


Undesired Relationship

by PeKaNo



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Arranged Marriage, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 50,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeKaNo/pseuds/PeKaNo
Summary: Amity is daydreaming about Luz, when something unexpected happens.Written after Wing it Like Witches (S01E17) but the chronology shouldn't matter too much.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Boscha, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 75
Kudos: 873





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this tweet from Leaf Shiner](https://twitter.com/leafshiner/status/1292989487421820928)  
> 

The sun was about to set, and orange to pink colours were filling the sky, reflected by the scattered clouds. Amity was sitting at her window, looking at the landscape, thoughtful.

These last few weeks, a lot of things had changed for her. All of this because of one person; Luz. Since the human had come to the Boiling Isles, Amity’s life had drastically shifted.

She was no longer in Boscha’s gang, she had reconciled with Willow –even though things were still weird between them–, and most importantly: she was in love with Luz.

Amity didn’t really realize how or when it happened, but at some point it simply hit her, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her confidence, her fearlessness, her cute reactions, her desire to be righteous and good; Amity couldn’t possibly list all of Luz's qualities. And that girl was driving her mad.

There was that time when Amity had almost managed to ask her out for Grom, but too many things had happened and Amity had to give up on her confession. Since then, she had spent entire evenings in her room, daydreaming about Luz.

Everytime Amity would randomly meet Luz at Hexside, she would panic and say or do dumb stuff. It was so common that the human probably thought it was part of Amity’s personality. But Luz was most likely unaware of Amity’s feelings towards her, and even though it made the witch a little sad, it was mostly reassuring to know her secret was safe. Luz couldn’t say no if she didn’t know, right?

Amity’s daydreams always had the same structure. First, she would make a small recap of all the things she had done and lived with Luz. Then, she would make a big list of all the things she liked about the human. And finally, she would imagine herself asking Luz out on a date, or she would just imagine them _on_ a date. While Amity couldn’t live her relationship in real life, she was gladly enjoying it in her mind.

But everytime, it felt like it wasn’t enough. Amity knew that at some point, she would have to confess, but she never felt ready. And she lacked confidence.

Suddenly, she heard someone knock at her door.

-Yeah? Amity said.

She heard her dad speak from the corridor.

-We have guests downstairs, come say hi!

Amity took a few minutes to fix her hair. It wasn’t uncommon for rich and important people to come in the Blight house, so she had to maintain a certain level of elegance.

When she arrived downstairs, in front of the living room door, Amity could hear her parents’ voices, as well as other adult voices she didn’t recognize.

Once she pushed the door, her eyes widened when she saw Boscha on her couch, sitting next to her parents, at least that’s what she guessed since they all had three eyes.

-There she is, Amity’s father said with a smile.

-Good evening, Amity said as neutrally as she could.

She didn’t forget what Boscha had done to Luz and Willow in that Grudgby match. But it was probably not the reason for her presence.

-Amity, her father started. Why don’t you bring Boscha to your room? There are things you two need to talk about, and us as well.

He looked at Boscha’s parents as he finished his sentence.

Amity didn’t like the idea of bringing Boscha to her room, her privacy, but she couldn’t say no to a direct order from her father.

After telling Boscha to follow her, they left the living room, climbing back upstairs.

Amity couldn’t clearly decipher Boscha’s look. Almost as if she had totally forgotten about their school quarrels, as if she was here for something way bigger than any of this.

Amity went to sit on her bed, offering her desk chair to Boscha.

-So, what is this all about? Amity asked, lost. You all look like Belos is dead or something.

-You’re not gonna like this… Boscha said with a sorry look.

-Like what?

Amity narrowed her eyes. Boscha sighed.

-We’re going to marry. Our parents sealed it.

Amity’s eyes widened.

-WHAT? But I don’t want to! Why would they decide this all of a sudden? Sorry Boscha, it’s not that I don’t like you, but there’s already someone else I…

-Yeah, I know. Luz, right?

Amity blushed hard when Boscha said the human’s name out loud, almost casually.

-How do you know?

-Duh, literally everyone is aware of that apart from her, Boscha explained with a grin. I didn’t know anyone could be this oblivious… What a dork.

-Hey! I’m the only one allowed to say that, Amity argued.

Boscha looked at her with a smirk.

-I gotta admit, you two are cute together.

A small silence followed Boscha’s comment, Amity’s cheeks still red from what Boscha had just said.

-But we have no choice, Boscha said before sighing once again. I don’t like it either, but we both know this is not up to us. Our families decided. It’s settled.

Amity felt her heart break from the realization. Was this a joke? Boscha didn’t seem to be joking. Arranged marriages were very common on the Boiling Isles, especially with rich or powerful families. It was a way to make allies, and it was very useful for political careers. But Amity never thought that it would happen to her. 

It was unfair. Two months earlier, when she didn’t know Luz, she would have accepted her fate. But now that Luz was in her life, it felt so heartbreaking, so painful. She had to fight. She had to fight for herself, for her feelings. Today more than ever before.

Amity got up, rushed downstairs, and violently opened the living room door.

-NO! she yelled at her father.

Everyone in the room jumped from her unexpected interruption, Boscha’s mom even looked like she had been physically assaulted.

-What’s wrong Amity? her mother asked. Didn’t Boscha explain everything to you?

Amity could feel her presence behind her, afraid, not knowing where to go. She seemed to have accepted her fate, and would probably leave Amity alone in her fight.

-She did, and I’m not okay with it.

-This is not up to you Amity Blight, her father said sharply.

-It is! It’s my life we’re talking about, my future! I have my say in this.

Her father’s face had turned red, probably from anger and embarrassment in front of Boscha’s parents. He took a step forward, threatening.

-You don’t! Maybe being locked in your room will help you realize that.

He casted a spell that made Amity float to her room, slammed the door, and locked it.

Amity felt hopeless. Her only way to get out of this mess, to fight for herself, was through direct confrontation with her family. Yet, they had literally ignored and silenced her.

Realizing that there was probably no hope, Amity lied on her bed, shoved her head in her pillow, and cried silently.

She cried through the whole night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is a pure angst one-shot, mostly because I didn't see any way to fix this in a single chapter. If you want me to continue, I have ideas for a much longer fic using this as a prologue. But it would take me a lot of time to write so I want to know if anyone is interested.  
> Hope you enjoyed it even though it was truly heartbreaking to write D':


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, so quick update on this, I decided to write the full fic I had in mind for NaNoWriMo !  
> Expect daily updates for the whole month~

The mathematics teacher was interrupted by knockings on the door. Luz lifted her head up, relieved that something was finally happening besides the boring formulas on the board. Who knew Hexside also taught maths?

“Yes?” resonated through the room, followed by a long and awkward silence. The teacher, realizing that they had probably answered too quietly, walked to the door and opened it themselves.

Luz couldn’t see who was behind the door from her place, but she recognized the person almost instantly when she heard their voice.

-Sorry for being late, Amity apologized.

She entered the room and quickly walked towards the nearest available seat, before being stopped by the teacher.

-Wait a second, don’t you at least have an excuse?

Amity sighed. Luz noticed that she looked sad almost as much as she looked annoyed.

-No, I don’t.

-Well uh… the teacher started, apparently disconcerted by the answer. Make sure you don’t arrive late any more.

They quickly resumed the class, starting their speech about solving quadratic equations from scratch.

Meanwhile, Luz’s attention had been completely hijacked by Amity’s entrance. It wasn’t rare for her to be cold some days, even slightly aggressive, but this time she seemed seriously upset. And Luz was both curious and concerned about it.

Unable to talk to her until the end of the class, Luz instead asked her neighbour –Willow in this case– what she thought made Amity look so upset.

-How could I know? Willow answered. It’s not like I talk to her outside of Hexside.

-Do you think it’s why she was late? Luz continued to ask. Ooh ooh, maybe one of her car tires exploded and she had to run to school?

Willow’s right eyebrow raised up.

-What even is a “car”? And I think she would be way more out of breath if she had run all the way to school.

-Yeah, right… Luz answered, seemingly making up other crazy hypotheses in her mind.

As she was considering a dragon attack, Luz noticed Amity glancing at her. It wasn’t unusual for the Blight to look at her during class, but it still led Luz to wonder if something was wrong with her. Anyway, there was no way to find out before she could ask the witch directly.

The rest of the class ended up as boring as it had started, and Luz’s impatience to talk to Amity didn’t help at all. The human tried to channel it by playing with her feather pen ink, which sort of worked, even though Luz still ended up with her hands covered in black ink.

-Please, can I go wash my hands? Luz asked the teacher as she raised her hand, not even waiting for their approbation.

The teacher sighed.

-Luz, it’s the third time in two months… And we only have one class per week!

-Sorry, Luz apologized sincerely while she felt her cheeks heat up from embarrassment. I promise I’ll be more careful next time…

The teacher made a wave towards the door, showing her that she was allowed to leave, and Luz quickly got out towards the nearest bathroom.

The school bell screamed as she was regaining her seat, making Luz happy for not having to go through more of this class. She gathered her stuff and left the room, noticing that Amity had already disappeared.

‘Crap,’ Luz thought, unable to locate her target in the corridor as well.

Her next class wasn’t in common with the green-haired witch, and she would probably not see her again before lunch.

‘Guess I’ll have to wait more than expected.’

Luz headed out to her next class, that was luckily way more interesting to her than mathematics. 

Despite her trying not to think too much about Amity, Luz’s stomach happily reminded her that she was waiting for lunch impatiently, and made it even harder for the human to go through the rest of her morning classes. The potion class turned out to be especially hard because there was no one she really knew in it –except for Barcus but he wasn’t really one to talk–, so Luz had no one to chat with to make time go faster.

In fact, there was someone else she knew, Boscha, but Luz would rather die of boredom than talk to her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the school bell scream sounded once again through the school, and Luz rushed to the cafeteria, almost forgetting one of her notebooks in the process.

Willow and Gus were already waiting for her in the line, and Luz joined as soon as she spotted them. A few minutes later, as they were about to reach the front of the line, Luz noticed Amity going towards the back, apparently alone.

-Amity! Luz shouted while waving. Wanna eat with us?

Luz finally had a chance to ask her about this morning.

Amity seemed hesitant at first, stopping to make up her mind as she stared at Luz. After a few seconds, she finally joined the group of friends, greeting them neutrally.


	3. Chapter 3

-I was wondering, why did you arrive late this morning? You seemed very upset.

Amity almost spat out her food when she heard Luz’s question.

-It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, Luz added, afraid to be too intrusive.

-No no it’s okay, I just…

Amity paused for a few seconds.

-I didn’t hear my alarm clock and I was angry for being late.

Amity’s look was indecipherable, and Luz suspected that she had told only half of the truth. Despite her unsatisfied curiosity, she was afraid to upset her friend, so she stopped her questioning.

The rest of the meal went quietly, which was unusual for the group since Luz always had a big load of anecdotes and observations about how life at Hexside was different from life in the human world, and Gus questioned every little detail about them. This time, Luz was too preoccupied about Amity’s state to even think about topics they could discuss, and Gus was awkwardly playing with the shaking branches they had for the first course.

-So uh, how were your weekends? Willow asked to try to revive the conversation, failing to receive any other answer than a few mumbled “fine”.

Luz was in a tough situation, concerned about Amity’s wellbeing but also unable to ask her directly about it. She was searching for a solution when she realized she had been staring at Amity for an uncomfortable time. Instantly looking away, she hoped that the witch hadn’t noticed, but the slight blushing on her cheeks said otherwise. Determined to ignore what had just happened, Luz kept eating casually, still thinking about her friend but making sure to look at her own plate instead of Amity’s face.

Once everyone had finished eating –even though Luz carefully avoided the moving first course–, Willow suggested leaving the cafeteria to head out to the next class they had in common; History.

On her way to the exit, with Amity walking behind her, Luz noticed that they were about to pass next to Boscha, who was eating next to the alley. Preparing her best hostile glare, Luz’s expression shifted when she realized Boscha was not paying attention to her at all but was instead looking behind her, at Amity. Boscha’s gaze was hard to decipher, but it was neither hostile or friendly, yet seemed to hold a deep meaning. Whatever it meant, Boscha and Amity still had some secrets going on.

Something clicked in Luz’s mind; maybe Boscha knew something about what had happened to Amity! Her excitement vanished when she remembered how hard it would be to have a casual conversation with Boscha given their past encounters, let alone having her talk about more private stuff.

When they arrived in history class, Luz went to her usual seat and saw with surprise Amity settle down next to her on her regular place. Luz would have thought that the witch needed some time alone, but apparently she was ready to get over whatever had been troubling her since the morning. They discussed a little about unimportant stuff, Luz trying her best to not let awkwardness interfere in their conversation, until the teacher entered the room and started the lesson.

The rest of the afternoon went fine, and globally things had smoothened a lot between Luz and Amity by the end of the day. Amity seemed less upset, and Luz felt less awkward talking to her, even though she was still deeply concerned. Amity knew that she could trust the human, and she would have normally confessed whatever had happened to her, but today seemed different.

Giving up for the day, Luz said goodbye to her friends before starting to exit the school and head out to the Owl House. On her way out, she saw Boscha standing on the stairs, seemingly waiting for someone or something. Luz remembered the weird stare Boscha had given to Amity earlier at noon, and hesitated asking her about it. Fearing an aggressive reaction, Luz decided that today was probably not the best time to ask about it, and she casually passed next to Boscha without looking at her.

But her concern for Amity was too strong. After a few steps, she turned back.

-Hey, uhhh, Boscha, sorry to bother you, but can I ask you something?

Expecting a hostile reaction, Luz got surprised by the neutrality of her answer.

-Hi Luz. Go on.

Even though she didn’t look happy to talk to the human, at least she wasn’t jumping at her throat because Luz had dared talk to her.

-I was wondering if… you knew what happened with Amity? She looked sad this morning and I’m a little worried about her.

Luz made sure to avoid the whole “and I assumed that you knew about it from the way you looked at her in the cafeteria” part, judging it risky and unnecessary.

-What makes you think something happened? Boscha answered while her eyes slightly widened.

-She seemed upset this morning and she arrived late.

It was as simple as that. When she said it, Luz realized that maybe she had been fooling herself with a dumb conspiracy. There was nothing tangible explaining her concern apart from Amity’s behavior, and maybe the witch was just having a really bad day. Boscha’s reaction said otherwise though, since she rubbed her temples with her fingers before coming up with an answer.

-I uhhh… I don’t know if I can tell you.

-Please Boscha, Luz begged. I promise I wont tell her you told me. I’m just concerned and I want to know what happened!

After hesitating for a few seconds and a long sigh, Boscha finally decided to speak.

-Her parents have arranged her marriage.

Amity’s mouth went agape as her eyes intensely widened.

-W… What‽ This thing exists on the Boiling Isles?

-I’m afraid it does, Boscha answered.

Completely shocked, Luz began walking away without even thanking Boscha.

Marrying someone against their will? Her ideal vision of the Isles fell apart as she realized it wasn’t much different from her world after all. Who on earth would even marry their child without their consent? While they were still in highschool on top of that!

Luz’s concern had been entirely replaced by a deep feeling of disgust towards Amity’s parents –or whoever’s idea it was–, and on her way back to her house she promised herself to do something, anything to get Amity out of it.


	4. Chapter 4

The sky was bloody as Luz approached the Owl House, still upset about what she had just learned.

-Hoot! How was your day? Hooty asked when Luz arrived in front of him.

-Could have been better, Luz mumbled through her teeth. I’m not in a good mood to talk Hooty, can you let me in?

-Okay okay, sheesh, Hooty answered while opening the door.

There was an unusual scent filling the living room, and Luz assumed that Eda had once again made some weird and questionable potion for whatever reason. She didn’t appear to be at home though, and Luz assumed that she went outside to shop or gather something she needed, so the human went straight to her “room”.

Lying down on her sleeping bag, Luz took some time to calm down and decide what she would do about this problem. It wasn’t easy, as a friend, to act about these familial and private stuff, especially when she didn’t know Amity’s parents at all. Actually, she didn’t have a lot of options. She could either talk to Amity’s parents herself to try and convince them to give up on their stupid idea, or she could propose Amity whatever support she needed and let her decide what she should do to save herself. There was also threatening, but Luz was aware that she had no chance to win any sort of magical duel against two adult witches.

Considering her options, Luz decided that it was best not to act behind Amity’s back. She couldn’t risk anything possibly counterproductive, and even though things would probably be very awkward because of it, Luz deeply wanted to let Amity know that she had her full support.

Now, how was she supposed to tell her? How was Amity going to react, and most importantly, was she going to accept Luz’s help?

So many questions that Luz couldn’t answer. The only thing that mattered was Amity’s wellbeing, and it was Luz’s top priority.

Before she even realized Eda was back, Luz heard the witch call her for dinner. Slowly getting up, she went back into the living room and sat down on the couch in front of what looked like a Boiling Isles version of a pizza. Luz took one slice and carefully tasted it, only to realize it had a pretty normal taste.

-What’s wrong kiddo? Eda asked all of a sudden.

It was obvious she wasn’t talking about the food. Luz sighed.

-Someone I know is being forced into an arranged marriage. It’s revolting and I wish I could do something about it.

-Is it your friend Amity Blight? Eda asked while raising an eyebrow.

-H-how did you know?

-Actually, it happened to her parents as well, Eda explained. I figured they were the type of people who would do that to their daughter, even though I don’t really know them.

-What should I do about it? Do you know any way to help?

Eda paused for a couple of seconds.

-Well… I could try to intervene magically but I guess you won't want this kind of help.

-No you’re right, I don’t see how it wouldn’t make things worse. Any other idea?

-Not really, Eda answered with a sad face.

Luz lowered her head out of chagrin.

-But hey, Eda added to comfort her. I’m always right here if you need any sort of help. Even if it’s illegal.

That last bit got a chuckle out of Luz, who definitely needed it right now.

After they finished eating, Luz got up and started walking towards her room.

-Well I’m going to bed now, I feel like I need to sleep a lot before tomorrow. I guess I’ll talk to Amity about all of this, and I hope we will come out with better ideas. 

-Good night kiddo, and good luck.

-Thanks, you too.


	5. Chapter 5

The sudden sound of the door made Luz wake up.

-Come on Luz, you’re going to be late, Eda said from the doorstep.

Luz quickly woke up and yawned. Even though she had planned to sleep early, she’d had trouble falling asleep, her mind torturing her into an endless worry pit.

After getting dressed and picking up her bag, Luz went quickly in the kitchen to eat whatever she found suitable for a speed lunch and left the Owl House.

-Bye Eda, see you later, Luz yelled as she closed the door.

It was a cold morning with a clear sky, and Luz forced herself to appreciate the landscape a little instead of worrying about the future. She could hear animals, some of them sounding like birds, but Luz knew this world too well to pretend they were normal birds and not some weird versions of flying kangaroos.

It was weird that on the Boiling Isles, as opposed to earth, most people didn’t wake up until late in the morning. Luz rarely met anyone on her way to Hexside apart from other students and a few late night owls. It made going to school a lot more enjoyable, even though studying magic was still the main source of motivation for the human.

Luz had one class in common with Amity in the morning, followed by study hours until lunch that they would probably spend together. Not wanting to ruin Amity’s first class, Luz decided that it was best to wait until the study hours to talk to her about the marriage.

As Luz arrived at Hexside, she stumbled upon Viney in the corridors.

-Hey Luz! What’s up?

-Uhhh...

Seeing Luz’s weird face, Viney added:

-Wow. Is everything okay?

-I uh, I’m not sure actually, Luz answered. I’ll tell you later.

-If you ever need help, you can count on me, Viney said heartily. I hope whatever’s wrong will get fixed soon.

-Me too, thanks Viney. I really gotta go now, see you.

Waving at Viney as she walked away, Luz quickly went to her locker to gather the book she needed for her class, and headed there as the school bell scream sounded through the corridors. When she arrived in class, almost everyone was already installed, and the human had no choice but to sit on one of the last two seats available, right in front of the teacher and on the first row.

Unable to talk to anyone since the teacher would have instantly noticed, Luz spent the class actually listening and taking notes. She even ended up asking a few questions about historical persons she didn’t know about. Overall, the class went by extremely fast and Luz was surprised by the screaming bell, a little disappointed but mostly happy about what she had learned.

Luz took her time to get out of the class, and she met Willow, Gus and Amity outside who were seemingly waiting for the human to go to the library. Instantly, Luz felt a knot in her stomach when she realized she was about to talk to Amity about what she had learned from Boscha. As they all headed towards their destination, Luz searched for a way to talk to Amity as smoothly as possible.

When the group of friends approached the library doors, Luz grabbed Amity’s wrist, causing the witch to jump out of surprise.

-You guys settle down somewhere on a table, Luz said to Willow and Gus. I just need to talk to Amity for a while, we’ll join later.

After Willow threw a weirdly meaningful look at Gus, the two resumed walking and entered the library. As Luz turned towards Amity’s face to explain what was happening, she was met with a confused look and a tiny blushing. Deciding to ignore Amity’s weird reaction, Luz dragged her towards a bench.

-Don’t worry I just want to talk about something, but I think we should sit down for a bit, she explained.

After both girls were sitting, Luz had no choice but to keep going on.

-So, she started.

Luz took a long, deep inspiration.

-I heard that your parents were marrying you against your will, she explained. I am-

-What? Who told you? Amity interrupted.

-I uh, I’m sorry, I promised them I wouldn’t tell you.

Amity’s eyes narrowed, an angry look on her face.

-So uh, I know this is weird, but I wanted to know if there was any way for me to help you about it. If it’s the reason why you were upset yesterday, I’m guessing you’re not happy about it at all, and I really want to make things right.

Anger disappeared from the witch’s face, replaced by a caring look.

-You’re right, she started before sighing. My parents told me about it two days ago. But please don’t tell anyone else, I really don’t want to have people laughing at me right now.

Luz took Amity’s hand and held it tightly.

-I promise I won’t do anything against your will Amity, she said in a very serious tone. I just want to be there for you.

A small silence followed, forcing Luz to smile awkwardly to show her determination.

-So uhhh… the human started. First of all, who is the person your parents want you to marry? Is he even your age? Do I know him?

Amity chuckled, leaving Luz completely confused.

-Luz, what makes you think it’s a “he”? she asked with a smile.

Luz took a few seconds to process what Amity had just said.

-Oh, wow. Is it okay with you? Are you into girls?

Luz’s concern had instantly come back despite Amity being somewhat lighthearted.

-I know my parents are forcing me to marry, but they are not monsters, Amity explained. They would never have asked me to marry a guy knowing that I’m not straight.

Luz’s cheeks turned a little red, probably because of her mistake about Amity’s sexual or romantic orientation.

-And do I know them?

Amity didn’t answer directly, but instead looked deep into Luz’s eyes, probably trying to figure out how badly she would react.

-Boscha.

Luz’s jaw fell down.

-Boscha, as in The Boscha?

-Yeah, Amity confirmed with a sigh. The Boscha you know.

‘Why didn’t she tell me yesterday?’ Luz thought, a little angry.

-Wow, Luz finally said after another silence. And how did she react? Is she okay with this?

-I wasn’t there when she learned about it. But it seems like even though she isn’t incredibly pleased with it, she isn’t going to complain or try to change things.

-Have you talked to her about it? Luz asked.

-Well, not really, she just told me we were getting married and we didn’t really have the occasion to discuss afterwards. My guess is that she was aware that her parents would pick her partner without her consent, explaining why she didn’t complain about it.

-And you weren’t?

-No, I learned it two days ago, Amity clarified. But I’m not sure knowing about it would have made things better honestly, I would just have been depressed every time I had a crush on someone.

-I can understand why, Luz said. Do you have like, any plans to convince your parents to give up?

-Not really, Amity confessed.

-Well, now we’re two to come up with something. I won’t let you down Amity, I promise.

Luz realized that Amity’s eyes had started glowing. Suddenly, the witch leaned forward and tightly hugged Luz, resting her forehead on the human’s shoulder. She sniffed.

-Thank you Luz. It really means a lot to me.

Confused and a little embarrassed, Luz decided to simply relax and let loose into Amity’s embrace. Surprisingly, she noticed things she would have never expected to remark. For example, Amity’s hairs had a subtle wood scent, and she also had a very cute mole behind her right ear.

When Amity ended their hug, Luz still felt embarrassed –in fact she was probably blushing– but at least the awkward feeling had disappeared. She was no longer embarrassed because of the hug but simply for noticing her scent, something she had never experienced before with anyone. Willing to ignore and forget this sensation, Luz simply acted normal and hoped that she would quickly be able to refocus.

Sniffing once again, Amity got up and offered her hand to Luz, seemingly wanting to end their discussion for now.

-We’ll have occasions to talk about that later, she explained. Let’s get back to the library before Gus starts thinking you tried to cast a dangerous spell on me.

Luz chuckled as she grabbed Amity’s hand, realizing Gus’ vivid imagination could actually come up with this kind of theory.

The two girls started walking again towards the library, and after a few minutes they managed to find the table where Gus and Willow were.

-We’re back! Luz half-shouted, instantly placing her hand over her mouth when she remembered where she was.

Amity softly chuckled at the situation, causing Willow and Gus to share another knowing glance.

-Would it be intrusive for me to ask what you two were talking about? Willow asked with a sly look.

Luz slightly nodded towards Amity, showing her that it was fully her decision to explain things or not. Amity sighed, probably tired of having everyone suddenly caring about her.

-Just some problems with my family, nothing to worry about.

The look on Willow’s face instantly darkened. Apparently, she wasn’t expecting this kind of answer. Luz was a little surprised that Amity didn’t fully explain the situation, but she also understood that the witch didn’t want too many people to know about it. At least she hadn’t lied to them, which was something she probably would have done a few months ago.

After Amity and Luz settled down, Luz tried to work on her potion lessons to prepare for the afternoon class, but she was unable to focus. Either glancing regularly at Amity or unconsciously trying to find a plan, her mind was way too filled with preoccupations to be able to focus on her studies. At some point Luz even stopped trying, daydreaming until the others would decide that it was time to go to the cafeteria.

Surprisingly, Amity was calm and didn’t seem too impacted by the events. Luz was more worried even though she wasn’t the one forced to marry someone else by her parents. Maybe Amity had more self-control, or maybe she was just very good at hiding the emotional storm that was probably inside her.

After more than two hours, Gus finally lifted away his head from his notebook, stretched, and suggested:

-Should we go get lunch? I’m starting to be hungry.

Since everyone around the table nodded, they all gathered their stuff and the group of friends headed towards the cafeteria.


	6. Chapter 6

Willow, Gus, Amity and Luz were eating a very tasty tomato-based main course. Well, maybe it wasn’t tomatoes, but Luz sincerely didn’t want to know what the cooks could have used instead.

Unlike the day before, conversations were going wild. Luz was trying to explain to Gus the difference between a train and a car, and how both worked –even though she couldn’t precisely explain their mechanics–. Next to them, Willow and Amity were talking about… Luz wasn’t sure actually. She had heard a few bits, like “what are you waiting for”, “it’s complicated” and “[...] before someone else makes a move”, but she had no idea what the two witches were talking about. Maybe they were referring to something important tied to their childhood friendship, but Luz didn’t want to be intrusive and ask them about it.

Even weirder, at some point Luz could have sworn she felt Amity kick Willow under the table, but since Willow didn’t take it too badly Luz decided to ignore it for now. She would keep an eye on these two however, in case their relationship worsened.

Suddenly, Boscha appeared out of nowhere next to the group.

-Sorry to interrupt, she started, receiving hostile glares from Luz, Willow and Gus and an interrogative look from Amity. I’d just want to talk to Amity for a bit. Can you come with me to another table, Amity?

Before anyone could respond, Willow answered, her voice full of disdain.

-It’s fine, we were leaving anyway.

She got up with her tray, started walking away and turned back a few steps later.

-You’re coming Gus?

Gus seemed a little lost but quickly got up and followed Willow. After they left, Boscha put down her tray on the table at Willow’s former place and sat down. Luz, noticing the french fries in her plate, vividly grabbed one and ate it.

-Hey! Boscha barked.

-Sorry, it’s the regular tax, Luz explained with a grin.

She wasn’t sure the witch would take it well, but it was her shot at creating a somewhat friendly climate. Luckily, Boscha quickly forgot about it.

-Are you sure she can stay? Boscha asked Amity. You know what I want to talk about right?

-Yes, Amity answered. I filled her in earlier.

-Oh okay, Boscha started. Actually I was here to talk about it, because you see, I kinda told her about your situation yesterday. But I didn’t give her details so she doesn’t know who-

-I did, Amity interrupted. She knows everything, including your own situation. 

Boscha frowned.

-By everything, do you also mean... ?

She didn’t finish her sentence, and it took a few seconds for Amity to understand what she was referring to.

-Nononono, she doesn’t know about this, Amity stated while glowering at Boscha for bringing it up next to Luz.

-Could you guys stop talking as if I wasn’t here? the human complained.

These last thirty seconds had been really strange and Luz had no idea what they were referring to, but she wanted to cut the small talk and actually do something useful.

-So Boscha, Luz continued after a small silence. Amity wasn’t sure about this earlier, but are you okay with the current situation or not?

Boscha sighed.

-I uh, I guess I am. I mean I knew my parents would force me to marry someone to create ties with other families, so it wasn’t a surprise or anything. I guess I’m kind of resigned about it. Of course if I had a choice I would say no, but then it wouldn’t be an arranged marriage.

-So you’re not going to fight against it? Luz insisted.

Boscha took her time to respond, seemingly trying to find the good words.

-I don’t want to go against my family, she started. But if you have a plan or if you find something that would allow me to dodge the marriage without vexing my parents, I guess I’d be willing to help.

Amity, who hadn’t talked so far, decided to regain control of the conversation.

-Okay, we’ll keep you in touch if we come up with anything, she said. As long as you don’t do anything counter-productive or betray us.

Boscha narrowed her eyes, seemingly angered by Amity’s suspicion, but didn’t respond.

-Thanks for your help Boscha, Luz quickly said, trying to smoothen things between the two witches. Do you have any idea?

-No, but if I’m being honest I never really thought about it. I don’t know your parents well, Amity, so I can’t really think of anything relevant. If you’re really motivated, maybe you could try to threaten them somehow… But seeing how they reacted two days ago I’m not sure that would be a good idea.

-Yeah, I’m not doing that, Amity confirmed.

-Boscha, are you sure you don’t want to go against your parents? Luz insisted. They could be easier to convince than Amity’s. Besides, maybe you could just ask them to pick another family? This way at least Amity would avoid the marriage.

-And making the Blights hostile towards my family? My parents would never risk it. Also, I won’t help Amity if it doesn’t help me as well. I could end up with someone… worse.

Boscha seemed a little embarrassed, and Luz could have sworn she saw her slightly blush for a short moment. Even if it wasn’t really a compliment, the witch was apparently not used to saying positive things about others.

-Thanks… I guess, Amity answered. Anyway, I don’t think we’ll come up with anything right now. Let’s go Luz.

The two girls said goodbye to Boscha and left the cafeteria, trying to figure out where Willow and Gus had gone. After a while, they found them near the main amphitheater, sitting on a bench. Willow still looked a little upset when she saw them arrive.

-So did you just forgive Boscha for everything she had done to me, to us? Why was she here anyway? Was she threatening someone? Another sketchy plan?

-Calm down Willow, Luz answered. I…

The human turned towards Amity, realizing she had promised the witch to not tell other people about the situation against her will. Amity, aware that they were in a dead end, sighed and chose to reveal the truth.

-Willow… My parents are forcing me to marry. Her.

Gus yelled “what!” as Willow’s eyes widened.

-As in an arranged marriage? Willow asked, making sure that she didn’t misunderstand.

-Yes.

-Oh shit, Willow fumed while putting a hand on her forehead.

Amity told them the complete story, and Willow put on her most understanding face.

-Please, don’t tell anyone about it, Amity added. I don’t want other students to know.

-You have my word, Gus stated.

-I promise your secret is safe with us.

Willow gestured her mouth being zipped.

-Do you want help? Can we do something? Gus asked out of concern.

-I’d rather not, Amity answered. It’s not against you, but I feel like there’s already too many people involved.

She paused and turned her head to briefly look into Luz’s eyes.

-And I’m convinced we’ll find a solution.

Luz felt her cheeks become warm from how much Amity seemed to trust her. She would do her best for the witch, no matter how hard it would be.

Answering her overwhelming feelings, Luz grabbed Amity’s hand, instantly destabilizing the witch.

-Wh… Amity said, surprised.

Luz squeezed the witch’s hand harder and smugly smiled at her.

-I’m here for you. We’ll fix everything.

When Luz noticed that Amity was blushing and Willow was smirking, she released her hand and looked at them questioningly, but no one dared to explain what had just happened. Still, Luz rejoiced when she realized that her plan to comfort Amity had worked. The witch seemed less sad now, and was no longer making the gloomy face she’d had since lunch.

The rest of the afternoon went fine, and nothing especially extraordinary happened. Luz was able to focus during class, she learned a lot of new things and she had a good time overall. Luckily, classes seemed to always brighten her up, allowing the human to forget about her problems to dive into the magic of this world.

After the last class of the day, Luz and Gus –it was an illusion class– met back with Amity and Willow in the hall, and they all left Hexside. They stayed in front of the school to chat for a while, and Gus left to go home, soon followed by Willow.

After Willow left, Luz noticed that Amity was weirdly moving on her feet, almost as if she was uncomfortable.

-You’re okay? Are you cold? Luz worried.

Amity flushed.

-Y-yes, a little, she stammered.

Without warning, Luz hugged her tightly, rubbing her hand on the witch’s back.

‘My turn to hug you’ Luz thought, imagining a smirk in her mind as if it was some kind of revenge.

They stayed like this for almost a minute before Luz leant back, afraid that she would embarrass Amity if they had stayed longer this way. Amity looked less red now, so Luz assumed that her hug was a success.

-Want to walk together a little? she suggested. If we stay here you’ll get cold again.

-S-sure, right, Amity answered.

The two students took a path that led to the town, a sort of compromise between the one leading to the Blight mansion and Luz’s trail to the Owl House.

-Maybe we could replace you with a clone! Luz said out of nowhere. Can we even make clones? I mean by combining your abomination magic and Gus’ illusion magic…

-Luz, be realistic, Amity answered with a smile, seemingly amused by the idea. We could never maintain the clone on track long enough, and I doubt my parents would fall for it. Also, I don’t think Boscha would like marrying an abomination.

The two girls giggled, imagining Boscha with a low cost version of Amity.

A few kilometers further, the two girls stopped at an intersection.

-Well… Amity started. I guess it’s time to go home.

-Good bye Amity, see you tomorrow!

-See you, the witch answered before turning away.

Luz watched Amity move away for a while, before heading towards the Owl House. The day had been filled with difficult talks, but overall she felt like it went mostly okay. Boscha didn’t show hostility, Willow and Gus had been very understanding, and everyone was convinced they would manage to fix everything.

Luz was tired from the busy day though, and she sighed out of relief when she saw the Owl House behind the trees. The thought of the couch had a sort of heavenly aura. In no time, Luz was inside the house, sitting on it with a big sigh of relaxation.

Eda quickly showed up to welcome her apprentice, a little worried about how tired she looked.

-Everything fine kiddo? Did you talk to Amity?

-Yes, and I would say it went better than expected, Luz started. I learned that not only she is being forced into a marriage, but also she is supposed to marry Boscha!

-Hold on a second, Eda stopped Luz. Who’s this Boscha again?

-A classmate. That sort of bullied Willow and also me? But I guess that’s in the past. Anyway there’s that, and also Boscha isn’t opposed to helping us stop the marriage, even though she said she didn’t want to go against her parents. Oh and also, Willow and Gus know about it as well.

Eda took a couple of seconds to process every information that Luz had said at a rather high pace.

-Well, I’m sure you kids are going to figure this out, she answered with a cheerful smile. I’ve got both bad news and good news, which one do you want first?

-Uhhh… I guess the bad one first.

-Okay so you remember this weird wizard in town who gave you this fake map a while ago?

-Yeah, Luz answered, repressing a shiver. How could I forget?

-Well, King went into town to buy me some potion ingredients. And… apparently he got tricked, and now his fur is pink. Don’t ask me how it happened exactly, I don’t have all the details as well. Make sure to not talk about it when he can hear you, he’s very susceptible.

Eda slyly smiled at Luz as King entered the room, as if he had been summoned.

-I, the king of demons, request food.

Luz had a hard time refraining herself from laughing out loud when she saw the pink fur in front of her; it was hilarious. If that was Eda’s “bad news”, the good one was probably incredible.

-I could turn him back to normal, Eda whispered into Luz’s ear. But I want to keep him this way for a few days, it’s too fun to watch.

Eda winked at Luz.

-Dinner will be ready in ten minutes, do whatever you want in the meantime, she told King. Now for the good news, I think I came up with a plan to help Amity.

Luz straightened, surprised and impatient to hear what the witch had thought about.

-Don’t build your expectations too much, it’s really really sketchy.

-Doesn’t matter, Luz answered. Any idea is welcomed.

-So, Luz has one father and one mother right? I searched a few books to find interesting spells that might help your friend, and I found one that looked promising. To put it simply, it allows me to put them through a dream I or anyone else made up in advance. Since you don’t want to use violence, I thought that maybe making them go through what Amity will go through herself might change their mind. Is it clear?

-So you mean, making them live a forced marriage in their dream to make them realize how horrible it is?

-Yeah that’s the idea.

-But Amity’s parents were also married by their parents from what I understood, Luz explained. They’ve been through it already.

Eda paused for a while, searching for a solution.

-Perhaps… They weren’t forced to marry each other while having a crush on someone else! Eda exclaimed. Okay I have an idea. We’ll find a way to know their ideal partner, both physically and psychologically. I’m sure there’s a spell for this. Then we’ll make them meet in the dream, and we’ll make their “parents” marry Amity’s parents with each other, breaking their hopes of ever living their lives with their supposed soulmates.

-Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad, Luz said. I’ll have to talk to Amity about it.

-I think I can even strengthen their dream so that it seems they spent one or two years in it. It would give more impact to the arranged marriage.

-I uhhh, I’m not sure about this part, Luz confessed. We’ll see what we do exactly once I make the suggestion to Amity. What would we need to do to put them through the dream though? Is it risky or complicated?

-Not at all! It just requires preparation, but the spell is simply air that you release in the target’s bedrooms. It doesn’t smell and it’s not visible so there’s no risk of her parents detecting it.

-Well, that actually sounds like a super idea. Thank you Eda!

Luz hugged her mentor, impatient to tell Amity about what they had come up with.

-Tomorrow I’ll look for a way to get their ideal partner, Eda added. It might not be a spell as simple as the one to make them dream, so this may actually be the tough part of the plan.

-We’ll figure it out. I have a little idea about how we can make risky moves without Amity’s parents finding out about anything, so I’ll use that if needed.

-You’re more prepared than I thought, Eda said with a wide smile. Anyway, dinner’s ready! I got some food from a human restaurant, I believe it was called gado-gado, so I hope you’ll enjoy it.

-Thanks Eda, finally some normal food!

Eda chuckled at the joke and got up, leaving towards the kitchen. Luz quickly followed, realizing that she was incredibly hungry.

After they ate, and like the day before, Luz quickly went to bed, hoping to make up for the hours she’d lost from anxiousness during the last night. Luckily, and even though she was a little excited about Eda’s new plan, she quickly fell asleep and had a peaceful night.


	7. Chapter 7

-Eda came up with something! Luz yelled while running towards Amity.

A few people looked at them, confused about who had shouted in the middle of Hexside corridors.

-Calm down Luz, you’re annoying people.

Amity didn’t want to sound mean, but having all the attention on them was something way too embarrassing for her.

When Luz finally reached her, Amity saw her face filled with joy and excitement. It had to be a very good idea if the human was this excited. Curious to hear the details, Amity began walking towards a less frequented part of the hallway.

-So, what did Eda come up with? Amity asked as they stopped. Is it just a small idea or a full plan?

-It’s a full plan, Luz answered. Basically, we’ll put your parents through-

Luz was interrupted by the screaming bell, forced to leave to go to class.

-Aw, sorry about that, Luz said. I’ll tell you at lunch!

And the human left, walking fast to not arrive late in class.

Amity rattled out of frustration. If only Luz hadn’t started to tell her the plan, maybe she could have patiently waited until lunch! But the first bit was very intriguing, and her curiosity would probably prevent her from focusing in class.

‘It’s not like I can get in her class and force her to leave to finish her explanations anyway’ she thought while sighing. ‘Even though that would be fun.’

Amity went to her class as well, way more slowly than Luz though because she was far from impatient to go through the never ending morning. She only had two classes and they weren’t super important anyway, so it wouldn’t be too bad if she couldn’t focus.

A few rooms away, Luz was going through her lessons enthusiastically, like the day before. She was in a plant class right now and sitting next to Willow, who had kindly kept her a seat. Plant magic was definitely one of Luz’s best assets, and she only realized it after having to fight against the Grometheus with Amity. For some reason it felt natural to her, and the human was constantly asking Willow for tips or advice.

The teacher was currently trying to explain to the class how they were supposed to make a flower bloom with viable seeds. According to them, it was very easy to get flowers from plants, but making their seeds turn into sprouts was something only the best witches were able to achieve, and it often took years of practice.

As expected, when the teacher asked the students to try it, none of them succeeded, and even though Willow managed to make the seeds finish their maturation, making them sprout turned out to be impossible. The teacher still gave her their congratulations and asked the students to not give up about this spell, explaining that if they worked hard for several years they’d end up mastering it.

Luz went to a Bard class after that. Bard magic had never really been her thing for some reason, but she enjoyed watching others practice and discover spells a lot. Even though she knew a few bard glyphs, their sound –and their efficiency– was determined by how precise the drawing was, and Luz found it boring to spend hours making sure her circles and seals were perfect.

After having spent the whole class listening to Skara train with her lyre, Luz went to her last class of the morning; Beast keeping.

Luz knew that Amity had finished her classes, and she hoped that the witch wasn’t too upset about having to wait, especially now that she had nothing to do until Luz came out of class.

The beast keeping lesson turned out to be okay. It was entirely theoretical so the students didn’t get to see any real animal, but it was still interesting and Luz found out about a few species she had never encountered before.

When the class ended, Luz was joined by Willow and Gus in the corridors, and they went towards the cafeteria to eat, hoping that they would find Amity there. The green-haired witch had indeed been waiting for them near the line, and as soon as she spotted Luz she walked quickly towards the group. She took Luz’s shoulders in her hands and shook her.

-Luuuzzz! What’s the plan, what do you want to do with my parents!

Even though the witch was acting silly for fun, Luz knew that she had been impatient for real.

-It’s about the marriage, Luz explained to Gus and Willow, who seemed lost. You can listen but it’s not really interesting.

-Oh, okay, Gus answered before starting to talk about another topic with Willow.

Luz looked into Amity’s eyes and experienced for the first time her puppy stare, the witch’s eyes almost begging for the human to explain the plan.

-Okay so where was I? Luz asked teasingly. Do you want a summary of my morning classes?

-Nooo the plan! Amity groaned childishly.

-Fine, Luz giggled. So yesterday, Eda told me about a spell she found that would allow us to make your parents go through the dream we want. The plan is to make them live an arranged marriage themselves.

-But they already did! I don’t think this would change anything, Amity explained, a little disappointed.

-That’s what I told Eda, Luz continued. Her idea was to add both of their ideal partners in the dream, to make the arranged marriage truly painful. What do you think?

Amity paused for a few seconds. This plan wasn’t perfect, but it was the best they had, so why not?

-It doesn’t sound too bad, the witch answered. Is the spell difficult to cast?

-The dream spell is super easy, it’s basically just air in a flask that you’re supposed to release in your parents’ bedroom. However, Eda said that she would need a spell to get their ideal partners and that it might be something more complex. She’s supposed to look into it today.

-Hmmm I see, Amity said. I guess it’s worth the risk.

-I think we should meet tomorrow a little earlier before class, in order for me to explain the spell and also because I have an idea to avoid taking inconsiderate risks. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

-That’s fine with me, Amity answered. Thirty minutes before the classes start, in the hallway?

-It’s a date! Luz answered with a sly smile.

Even though she had expected the witch to be a little embarrassed, her flushing turned out to be way more intense than Luz expected. Worried that she might have been misunderstood, Luz added:

-I’m joking of course.

-Y-yeah, Amity stuttered. O-of course.

It took almost a minute for Amity’s face to return to its normal colors, and Willow smiled when she saw the intense blushing on her face.

The lunch went fine, as well as the rest of the afternoon. Like the day before, Luz and Amity ended up walking home together. Luz noticed that they were walking slower for some reason, but she didn’t try to construe this fact.

After talking about casual stuff for most of the path, Amity suddenly paused and started asking something that seemed a little more formal to Luz.

-Luz, I was wondering…

-Yeah? Luz encouraged her.

-Would you want to hang out together in town one of these days?

The witch seemed a little embarrassed about what she had said, causing Luz to stare at her instead of answering.

-I uhhh, Amity continued to try to prevent things from getting awkward. I mean we only talk about the marriage these days and I kinda want to spend time somewhere I can relax and think about something else.

-Y-yeah, why not! Luz answered, realizing that she had been staring at the witch for way too long. I’m free pretty much every time we don’t have school.

-Actually, I was thinking about saturday? Unless you have other plans of course.

-I’m pretty sure I’m free, Luz confirmed.

They arrived at the intersection where they were supposed to separate.

-So, next saturday, here, 2 PM? Amity asked.

-Sounds good to me!

Once again, the human noticed that Amity was slightly blushing. After all, it was normal to be embarrassed to go in town with your friends when you had spent the last few years alone or in Boscha’s gang. Luz thought that Amity had probably not experienced any genuine friendship for a long time.

After re-confirming their next day's rendezvous, the two students said goodbye to each other and Luz came back to the Owl House.

She studied for a bit, comfortably installed on the couch with King drawing next to her. It was very tempting to mock his fur, and Luz had a hard time refraining herself from using puns with the word “pink”.

Eda eventually came out of the first floor, where she had probably been messing up with magic or human stuff she had previously collected.

-Hey kiddo! she said when she entered the room.

-Hi Eda, how are you?

-Fine! My last experiment was a failure but I think I know what I missed in the spell, she explained, even though Luz had no idea what the witch was referring to. Oh and by the way, I looked up for the spell to get Amity’s parents ideal partners.

-Oh! Luz exclaimed. I’m all ears. Is it hard?

-Well it’s not particularly difficult but it involves getting really close to the target. The spell is tied to mind reading, but since we can’t cast it ourselves we need a way to stock the outcome.

-And did you find something? Luz asked, even though she was convinced that her mentor had a solution.

-Yes, and it’s where it becomes hard. Basically you have to put a paper on the target’s forehead, with a glyph combining mind-reading and memory stocking, as well as a small sentence explaining what you want to read in the target’s mind. Then you just have to blow on it for a couple of seconds and it should work as intended.

-That sounds feasible, Luz answered. Did you find the mixed glyph somewhere or did you make it?

-Well I tried to make it, Eda explained. But I’m pretty sure you’re better than me with these, so you’ll be the judge. Feel free to redesign it if you think I messed up some parts.

-I’ll check on that after dinner. Thank you Eda!

Luz hugged her mentor briefly, happy that she made almost all of the work.

-Nieh, King said all of a sudden while handing a drawing towards Luz.

From what she could tell, it was a drawing of Hecate and Azura holding hands under a starry night.

-You keep talking about how Azura befriended Hecate in her last book, King explained.

-Aww King you made a fanart, that’s so cute, Luz said. Is it a present?

-No! King answered before grabbing his red pen. The Great Ghoul hates friendship, and they shall perish for it!

As he talked, King started drawing a big demon next to the witches, and put red all over them to depict their blood and wounds.

-Another victory for the Great Ghoul! King shouted while raising his arms in the air.

Luz smiled, a little disappointed for the fanart but mostly amused by the demon’s imagination.

After dinner, she corrected the glyphs Eda had drawn, finished making the two spells –one for each of Amity’s parents– and went to bed. She had to wake up earlier tomorrow, and she didn’t want to miss her meeting with Amity.


	8. Chapter 8

While Eda and King were still sleeping, Luz woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast and left the Owl House. The sun hadn’t risen yet and it was the first time Luz had to go to Hexside in the dark. A little afraid at first, she ended up relaxing and enjoying the nocturnal sounds, chilly air and the pale colors that started appearing in the sky as she walked.

Luz didn’t have much experience with sunrises. When they weren’t happening before she woke up, it was often when she was already in class, where she had no way to enjoy them. Being able to fully appreciate a sunrise while walking in nature was something new to her, and she realized how pleasant it was.

When Hexside appeared in her field of vision, Luz saw Amity enter the building as well as a few teachers chatting or arriving at the school. Luz didn’t try to shout or wave at Amity; she was too far and turning her back to Luz, there was no way she would have noticed her.

‘Well at least none of us will have to wait too long for the other,’ Luz thought while speeding up.

When she entered the hall, she almost instantly noticed Amity who was sitting on a bench nearby, seemingly daydreaming. She didn’t realize Luz was here until the human stopped in front of the bench.

-Hi Amity!

-Oh, hi Luz, Amity answered, a little surprised. I uhhh, how are you?

-Great! I have the spells, for your parents, Luz explained while lowering her voice to make sure no one else could hear them.

-Nice. Are they complicated to use?

-It’s paper glyphs that we have to place on your parents’ heads, blow on them and retrieve.

-That sounds feasible. I never entered their room while they were sleeping but I guess I can try.

-About that, Luz started. Remember yesterday when I told you I had an idea to avoid having you taking too many risks?

Amity nodded, curious about what Luz had come up with.

-I thought that maybe we could use your siblings, Luz continued. I mean without telling them why they are doing it. We should be able to make it pass as a prank.

Amity narrowed her eyes, weighing the pros and the cons.

-That’s not a bad idea, but when they’ll realize the prank didn’t work they will know that we had something else in mind right?

-Yeah but I know how to avoid that, Luz explained. I was thinking about using Viney as an intermediate between us and them, this way they’ll never know who originally made the spells.

Amity didn’t look very convinced by the plan, and she was probably right. It was safe, but every additional factor Luz added lowered the chances of success.

-You know, Luz added when she saw Amity’s doubtful face. If it fails, we can always use plan B where you do it yourself. I think it’s just safer to try this first.

-I guess you’re right, Amity conceded with a sigh. Are you sure Viney will accept though?

-It’s worth trying. She’s in the healing and beast keeping tracks, there’s no way she’d refuse helping me.

Amity smiled at Luz’s naivety.

-Anyway, if I manage to see her before the end of the day, Edric and Emira will probably do the fake prank tonight and we should get the spells back tomorrow. Worst case scenario, they do it Friday night and we’ll have to wait until next Monday to get them back. In that case I hope it won’t make us too stressed Saturday.

-It’s not that big of a deal, Amity said, trying to convince herself as much as Luz. It’s only just plan A like you said, there’s no reason to fear anything.

-True. So you’re okay with what we have? I can talk to Viney and launch the plan?

-Yeah, but what will you say to her?

-Don’t worry about that, Luz answered with a smirk. I’ll figure something out. She won’t know that it’s in any way related to you, don’t worry.

There was a short silence between the two of them, and Luz took this opportunity to sit on the bench, next to Amity.

-Thanks for everything you’re doing for me Luz, Amity said. And thank Eda for me too.

-It’s normal to help your friends when they’re going through something this horrible, Luz explained.

The two girls were sitting awkwardly next to each other. Everything had been discussed, and now they had to wait for the beginning of the classes.

-I uhhh, I guess I overestimated how much time I’d need to explain everything to you, Luz said. Sorry for making you come this early.

-No problem. It’s nice being here, with you.

Luz almost didn’t hear the end of Amity’s sentence as it was only a whispered breath.

-Awww, thanks, she said while hugging the witch. I appreciate your company too!

When she leant back, Luz noticed that Amity’s face was red once again.

‘Amity really blushes a lot,’ she thought. ‘I guess it’s the fate people with lighter skin must bear.’

-Stop hugging me without warning! Amity complained childishly, a playful glimpse in her eyes.

-But you’re the one who did it first!

Amity paused a little to recall the events, still looking sulky.

-Mmmh I don’t remember that, she answered with a smile.

Before Luz could understand what was happening, Amity booped her nose and pulled out her tongue.

-We’ll see if you don’t remember! I learned how to extract memories two days ago, I didn’t think it would become useful so quickly, Luz warned, slowly leaning towards Amity.

-Nooo!

The witch got up and started running in the hall, faking panic. When she realized a few other students had arrived and were staring at her weirdly, she instantly stopped and looked at Luz, shocked. She slowly walked back to the bench, sat up and coughed out of embarrassment.

-See, you don’t need me to be embarrassed, Luz teased with a sly smile.

Amity grumbled, taking back her sulky face.

The two students kept talking about more casual stuff to wait for the beginning of the classes, and at some point Luz spotted Viney entering the hall. Deciding that it was better to do it now than later, she told Amity that she was going to launch the plan A and left the witch.

-Hey Viney, Luz said while approaching. You have a minute?

-Sure!

-Could we go, somewhere more private?

Without answering, Viney casually opened a locker and went inside, quickly followed by Luz. Even though the detention track was no longer a thing, the secret hideout was still used apparently.

-So uh, Luz started, aware that she didn’t have much time before the beginning of the classes. You remember the other day when I told you that something was wrong?

-Yes, have you reconsidered my offer to help?

Luz nodded.

-I need you to trick Edric and Emira into pranking their parents. You know them right?

-Yes, I know them, Viney confirmed, a discreet smile appearing on her face. We met a lot in detention.

-So I have these spells that just need to be placed on their parents’ heads, and then they just have to blow on them. I guess you could tell them that it’s an experimental prank that is supposed to make their hair grow super fast or something. Just make sure that they give you the papers back once they’ve tried it, tell them that you need to check if it worked or that they can be used multiple times. It’s up to you really. What matters is that they do the spell and bring them back. Do you think you can do that?

Viney closed her eyes to memorize everything.

-Yes, I guess I can try. What is it for anyway?

-I can’t really tell you, Luz apologized. But I promise that it won’t harm anyone. I just need it for… reasons. Also, please don’t tell them that I’m involved. Just say that you came up with it or that you bought it somewhere.

-Don’t worry, Viney said while winking at Luz. I wasn’t planning to. Anything else?

-Nope, that’s all. Thank you Viney! I owe you one.

-Don’t worry about it, she said while leaving the hideout.

-Yesss, Luz shouted after Viney closed the door. Now we just have to wait and everything should go as planned.

Half-opening the first door within her reach, Luz checked outside to see if the path was somewhat clear. She wasn’t sure what were the exact policies about the hideout, so she was willing to take all the precautions needed. Seeing no student nearby, the human got out and started walking towards her class.

When the bell screamed, she realized that she was no longer carrying her bag. Certain that she hadn’t forgotten it in the hideout, Luz concluded that she might have left it next to the bench. Walking fast to avoid being too late in class, the human went to the hall, praying that Amity had left the backpack there instead of taking it with her. Luz had no idea where the witch was so she wouldn’t be able to retrieve her bag before at least the first break.

Luckily, when she arrived in the hall, not only her bag was still here but Amity was also waiting next to it.

-I-I figured you had forgotten it, Amity stuttered while pointing at the backpack.

-Amity! You shouldn’t have waited for me, you’re going to be late!

-I just wanted to make sure you’d get it back, the witch said while blushing a little. Also I wanted to know how things went with Viney.

They started walking towards the corridors, in order to not arrive in class too late.

-Perfectly, Luz explained briefly. Now we just have to wait.

-Nice, thank you Luz!

Amity put her hand on Luz’s shoulder and briefly pecked her cheek, leaving the human confused.

-Wh… So I can’t hug you without warning but you can kiss me by surprise? That’s not fair!

-We never talked about kisses, Amity answered slyly.

-I’ll have my revenge! Luz shouted while turning in another corridor to go to her class.


	9. Chapter 9

Luz woke up around 11 AM, happy to be able to oversleep after having to wake up early for five days in a row. Instantly excited, she went into the kitchen to eat a small breakfast, then locked herself up in the bathroom; today was the day where her and Amity had planned to hang out in town!

Apart from the Grom festival that Hexside held, Luz didn’t have any occasion to dress fancily, or at least differently than usual. She was happy to take full advantage of this opportunity Amity had given to her.

With a blue jean jacket she had recently bought coupled with a yellow shirt and the purple-blue leggings she had worn at Grom, it felt like she was in a totally new outfit even though part of it wasn’t new at all. Luz having a rather wild taste when it came to dressing up, she hoped that it was fancy enough for an afternoon with her friend, but not something too over-the-top.

The day before had been super smooth, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened apart from Viney giving the spells back to Luz. Apparently, the twins had been tricked into thinking they were cursing their parents to make them hate green. “Your spells seem broken,” they apparently said when giving them back to Viney.

It was a relief for Luz that they had retrieved the spells. Her fear –and Amity’s– that it would ruin their afternoon now belonged to the past. Luz was free to enjoy the day fully, and she would spend her Sunday making the final dream spell with Eda.

-I see you got all dressed up, Eda said when Luz came back in the living room. Is it a date?

-No! Luz argued while widening her eyes at the assumption. Just a regular shopping afternoon with a friend!

-If you say so, Eda conceded, apparently not willing to tease Luz any longer.

-Yuck, dates, King interrupted, playing with his plushies on the couch.

Luz chose to simply ignore him. King had recovered his normal fur the day before, Eda ceding after the demon complained for two hours straight about pink. He got mad at the witch for a while when he realized she could have done that since the beginning, but his relief took over and calmed his resentment.

-You want to eat something before you go? Eda asked, not sure how much Luz had eaten earlier.

-I’m fine. We will be in town so if I get hungry we’ll just stop at a restaurant or something.

-It’s up to you, Eda said before diving back into her book.

When she looked at the clock on the wall, Luz realized that she had a big problem; she was ready way too early. Her rendez-vous with Amity was in more than an hour and a half, and even the twenty minutes walk she had to get to their intersection seemed ridiculously small.

She chose to sit on the couch next to King and went on her phone since it was the easiest way for her to spend time. Cat videos, AMVs, social networks, fanart websites, everything was good to help her shorten the waiting time. The problem with the internet was that it acted like a never ending pit. Before she even realized it, her phone indicated 1:45 PM.

‘Oh shoot,’ Luz thought, rushing outside of the house without even saying goodbye to Eda and King.

She had only fifteen minutes to make a twenty minutes path. Deciding that it was best to arrive a bit late than arriving sweating, Luz simply walked faster than usual.

‘I shouldn’t arrive more than five minutes late,’ Luz predicted.

When she finally reached the intersection, her phone was displaying 2:02, causing the human to sigh out of relief. She was panting a little but it had been a moderate effort so she had avoided unnecessary sweat.

Of course though, Amity had arrived on time, and was waiting for Luz on a bench near the junction. She was also wearing clothes that Luz had never seen before; a brown and yellow dress that stopped at her knees, brown boots and a brown hair tie. At first Luz thought that the yellow was a little weird with Amity’s green hairs, but she realized that it simply put a curiously nice contrast, attenuated by the fact that the upper part of the dress was mostly brown, yellow being concentrated mostly under the waist.

Amity raised her head when she heard Luz’s footsteps and got up to walk towards the human.

-Hi Luz, she greeted happily.

-Good afternoon, I hope you didn’t wait too long for me, I’m sorry I didn’t see the time pass.

-Don’t worry, I just got here.

A small silence followed, until Amity decided to turn around and took the left path leading to Bonesborough.

-What are we waiting for, she said with a smile as she started walking. We aren’t going to stay here the whole afternoon.

Luz chuckled as she ran a few steps in order to catch up with the witch. The two of them remained silent for a bit, Luz only hearing their footsteps and the wind in the trees around them.

-It’s a little breezy today isn’t it? Amity said while Luz was admiring their surroundings.

Luz wasn’t sure why the witch had brought that up, so she looked at her and realized that she was intensely blushing. Not sure what to do or what was the cause of the blushing, Luz took Amity’s hand, hoping that it would warm her. None of them said anything about it, but Amity’s blushing absolutely didn’t get away, at least from what Luz could tell since the witch was avoiding looking at her directly.

As Bonesburough started appearing in front of them, Amity relaxed a little, her grasp around Luz’s hand loosening. They entered the town and kept going straight ahead, eventually arriving into one of the town’s main streets.

-What should we do now? Luz asked while they stopped near a fountain.

Amity’s eyes widened.

-I uhhh, she started. I didn’t really think about that.

Hearing the sadness and sorriness in her voice, Luz decided that she would take control of the afternoon just for a while. She knew that Amity was probably under pressure because this trip was her idea, and she wanted to make sure she also enjoyed it.

-Why don’t we stroll around and check the shops? Luz suggested while tightening her grip around the witch’s hand to comfort her. You probably know the place far better than I do, you could show me around!

-Y-yeah, Amity said, seemingly gaining some of her confidence back.

She paused a little, then pointed to Luz’s right.

-Have you ever been to Doomette?

-Nope, at least I don’t think so, Luz answered.

-You’re gonna love it!

The two students went through a few shops, most of them recommended by Amity. Bonesborough had a surprisingly wide selection of clothing styles, and Luz took this opportunity to try a lot of outfits she wasn’t even able to afford. Amity, on the other hand, only tried a long dark-purple expensive dress that fitted her incredibly well, impressing Luz so much that the human felt obligated to remind her how well she looked in it every thirty minutes.

As they were walking in a busy street, Luz felt Amity’s hand tighten around her. The human led them to the side and slowed down, worried about her friend.

-Is there something wrong?

-No no, Amity answered. It’s just that there are a lot of people in this street and I… 

She didn’t finish her sentence, but Luz understood that she probably had some sort of agoraphobia. Considering her usual stillness, it was something Luz would have never suspected until today. Since they had arrived in town, the way Amity had enthusiastically acted upon good looking clothes or simply her cheerfulness had really surprised her. It was like getting to know a whole new facet of the witch, one where she wasn’t a serious student but simply a radiant friend who enjoyed shopping and talking about what she liked.

Willing to help Amity, Luz once again tightened her grip around the witch’s hand and led her to a less dense area.

-Thank you, Amity said while calming herself. It happens sometimes.

-Don’t worry about it, Luz answered with a broad smile.

Suddenly, her stomach growled loudly, and she remembered that she hadn’t eaten anything since the morning. She looked at Amity, feeling her cheeks getting warmer when she realized the witch had heard very clearly the sound too.

-I know a great place where we can have tea, should we go there? she asked, a little concerned.

-Why not! Since I’m the one hungry it’ll be my treat.

-What? No! Amity whined childishly. I’m the one who suggested it.

-Too late, I called it first, Luz answered and stuck out her tongue.

Amity led Luz to the tearoom, unable to avoid a few stops at magic items booths –they were all over the streets, and often displayed strange magical artefacts that Luz found fascinating–.

Once they got in, Luz ordered a bubble-tea –surprised that it was even a thing on the Boiling Isles– while Amity ordered a simple sencha. They also ordered a strawberry cake for two, and then went to sit around a table on vintage-looking voltaires.

They spent a lot of time in the tearoom, way more than expected. Apart from Luz mocking Amity for blushing when she realized that they would eat the cake from the same plate, they talked a lot about various things, from their hobbies and passions to what they wanted to do in their lives and even some Hexside gossip.

When Luz noticed the slightly decreasing light from the window, she looked at her phone and realized it was already 7. Aware that Amity was expected back at her house before 8, she suggested to start heading back to the intersection where they had met earlier.

Still holding each-other’s hand, they continued their discussion on their way back. Overall it felt way less awkward than when they had taken the same path in the other direction, and Luz was glad that Amity was less shy around her now. It really became evident when they stopped at the intersection and had to say goodbye. None of them really wanted to go, trying to make the afternoon last for at least another minute by reviving the conversation each time they had the opportunity to stop.

At some point, Luz decided that it was time to say goodbye.

-So uhhh, see you Monday I guess.

-Have a great Sunday, Amity answered. Good luck with that spell.

-Thank youuu.

Before the witch started heading home, Luz dashed towards her and gently kissed her cheek. Even though it had started to become dark, Luz clearly saw Amity instantly flush.

-Told you I’d get my revenge, Luz teased as she walked away, avoiding any sort of counterattack.


	10. Chapter 10

-Are you ready for the history test?

-What history test?

Luz and Amity were discussing between two of their morning classes, and learning about a test she had no idea about made Luz panicking.

She had spent her entire Sunday making the dream spell with Eda since it required a lot of preparation and waiting parts. Coupled with her Saturday out in town with Amity, Luz’d had no time to go over her lessons. Her memory was absolutely broken when it came to remembering test dates, and it seemed like it had once again tricked her.

-The history test… You know, this afternoon, Amity explained.

-Oh crap, Luz said while facepalming. I guess I know what I’m going to do while you guys eat.

-What  _ we  _ are going to do.

-What do you mean  _ we _ ? Luz asked, confused. Didn’t you study yesterday?

-I did, and I think I’m more than ready for the test. But I want to help you, especially since you made the spell for me yesterday instead of studying for the test.

Luz didn’t want to admit it, but even without making the spell she would have probably forgotten about the test anyway, too busy daydreaming about magic, trying to discover new glyphs or simply spending time on the internet.

-Well I won’t complain, Luz admitted. But you have to promise me you’ll eat something. I don’t want you skipping lunch just because I forgot about a stupid test.

-Don’t worry, I’ll get a snack or something.

-Meet me at the library tables near the back after classes then, Luz said as the bell screamed.

Luz had another bard class while Amity probably had something abomination-related.

‘Even though I can’t really study history during the bard class, at least we shouldn’t do anything that drains me out mentally,’ Luz thought, relieved that she didn’t have a math or healing class instead.

Luz was supposed to have an illusion class after that, but the teacher never arrived, apparently traumatized because Edric and Emira had made their body disappear earlier in the morning. Even though she thought their pranks were mean and harmful, Luz had to admit that the free study hour was not unwelcomed.

She went straight to the library, settling down near the back as she had told Amity, and started studying. Boiling Isles history, much like human history, was mostly dates, persons and events to learn by heart. Nothing very productive in terms of content, but still what the schools required for some reason.

Struggling with the “post-fire era” of the Isles, Luz sighed out of relief when she noticed Amity walking towards her from the corner of her eye.

-Right on time, the human said as Amity sat in front of her. Can you re-explain the exact reason why historians separate the fire era from the post-fire era? I mean there was fire in both of them.

As Amity explained with her words the reasons for the parting, she also put a brown paper bag on the table, taking a white object out of it and handing it to Luz.

-Here, she said after finishing her speech about the post-fire era.

-What is it? Luz asked.

Amity didn’t answer, letting the human unpack the sandwich she had just given her. In the meantime, she took another one out of the bag and started unfolding it as well.

-But you didn’t have to! Luz complained when she realized what was in her hands. I said that  _ you  _ needed to eat, not me!

-And what, leave you starving while you watched me eat? That would just have been counterproductive, hunger would have prevented you from focusing. Besides, after how much you paid at the tearoom Saturday, I really don’t mind buying you food to compensate a little.

Luz, more affected than angry, didn’t try to argue more and took a big bite into the sandwich Amity had given to her. Like pretty much all of the food she had eaten on the Isles, Luz didn’t ask what was in it, preferring living in ignorance rather than disgust.

It didn’t take long for the human to gobble up the food, and she was ready to resume her studying just a few minutes after they started eating. Grabbing her bag, Luz took out a little flask out of it and handed it to Amity.

-You know what it is, she stated. Uncork it in their bedroom a couple of hours before they go to sleep, and that’s all you need to do.

Amity looked deeply into Luz’s eyes as she took the flask.

-Thank you Luz, she said with a low, almost formal voice.

-Please, don’t take any inconsiderate risks, Luz suddenly begged her out of concern. Wait a whole week if you have to, but please don’t get caught!

Amity put her hand on Luz’s and squeezed it to reassure her.

-Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.

For once, it was Luz who was probably blushing right now, at least from what she could tell thanks to the warm feeling on her face. She didn’t quite understand why she was so worried for Amity, and even though she didn’t try to hide it, it still felt embarrassing in a way.

After Amity let go of her hand, Luz opened back her book to where she had stopped and resumed her studying.

At the end of the lunch break, Luz almost felt like she was ready for the test. Of course, they were a couple of key events and dates she kept forgetting about, but that wasn’t unusual. Amity had become really handy when Luz had needed small quizzes about precize parts of the lesson, and overall it was quicker to ask the witch about something she hadn’t understood than having to read it again in her books.

When they arrived in the class, Luz and Amity sat together at a table, happy to be able to get through the test together. Even though having someone this talented next to her would have probably tempted Luz to cheat a little, she didn’t want to risk Amity’s scholar performances and decided that she would rather completely fail her test than putting Amity at risk. In any case, the presence of the green haired witch by her side would comfort Luz, and she was well aware about it. It always felt better to go through a difficult event with your friends than alone, and Luz felt like she had realized this way too late in her life.

Overall, the test went fine. Amity said that she would probably get the best possible grade, only worried about one answer where she had hesitated between two dates. Luz on the other hand did her best and was probably going to be in the low-average part of the class, but it was good enough to pass so it didn’t matter to her.

Amity had another class after the test while Luz had finished her day, forcing her to go home alone without the witch. Even though they had only done it four times, Luz felt lonely on her way back, and promised herself that she would wait for Amity instead of going home the next time. She could always study in the library in the meantime, and she found it entirely worth if it allowed her to spend more time alone with Amity, especially outside of the school, where she was more “herself”.

A little moody, Luz finished walking home and instantly got back to work, fearing that she had another unexpected test soon. Luckily, the next one she had recorded in her phone was for the next week.

Allowing herself to relax a little, Luz daydreamed for a while about magic, the Boiling Isles, Eda’s mysterious youth and Hexside. Before she even realized it, her thoughts went back on Amity, and something hit the human all of a sudden.

‘I just gave her the flask!’ she thought. ‘That means she will most probably use it tonight and that we’ll know if it worked tomorrow!’

Even though she knew that, she hadn’t completely realized it until now. It was as if a wall of worry and apprehension had hit her, and even though the human was thankful that it didn’t happen before the test, she still felt terribly anxious about what Amity would tell her the next day.

There were two possible outcomes, depending on the viability of the spell. Because even though Eda was a talented witch, they didn’t have time to make tests considering the length it took to prepare, and none of them could tell for sure that it would work as expected. If the spell worked though, it would certainly affect Amity’s parents, hopefully to the point where they would change their mind about Amity’s arranged marriage.

Eda noticed that her apprentice was worried, and she knew why. Trying to comfort her with every distraction she could think of, she never managed to get more than half of the human’s attention. Even King, who usually got his fait part of pats and cuddles, was left aside. It felt like there was no way to calm Luz.

Unable to stop worrying about everything, she decided to go to bed early after she ate with King and Eda. If she managed to fall asleep quickly, it would shorten the time before the inevitable outcome.

After struggling for almost half an hour, Luz finally fell asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Luz was walking fast, trying to arrive at Hexside as early as possible.

Even though she had slept rather well, everything came back instantly when she woke up; it was today. Eating her breakfast as quickly as possible, she had rushed out of the house and was almost running to the school.

She knew that Amity would probably arrive after her, but she wanted to know the outcome of the spell so much that she didn’t want to risk losing a single minute.

When she arrived in front of Hexside, more than twenty minutes before the beginning of the classes, Luz quickly checked inside to make sure Amity hadn’t arrived yet, then went back outside to wait for her at the entrance.

Unable to stand still, the human started pacing as the first students arrived. Luz waited for five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, but Amity was still not on sight. Her anxiousness kept growing stronger with each passing minute, and she didn’t even realize the class had started.

Finally, after Luz felt for the third time like she was going to pass out, she noticed Amity in the distance. Dropping her bag, she ran towards the witch, only slowing down right in front of her to avoid colliding.

Luz instantly noticed Amity’s not-so-pleased face. Something had gone wrong.

-Amity thank lord you’re here! Is everything okay? Did you get caught? Did the spell fail?

So many questions were escaping her mouth, a sort of release of all the apprehension she had accumulated. Amity had to put her hand over Luz’s mouth to be able to respond.

-I’m fine Luz, don’t worry. The spell though… I’m not exactly sure what happened. I did cast it in their bedroom like you said, and I believe it didn’t fail seeing how pettish my parents were this morning. But they didn’t even talk about the marriage.

-Didn’t you ask them?

-That would have been like telling them “hey dad, hey mom, I tried to manipulate you overnight!”. I never brought the topic back since, you know, they told me about it. Bringing it back now would have made too obvious that I was the one behind their dream.

She paused a little, seemingly more troubled by this than Luz herself.

-I don’t know what to do Luz, she explained in a sadder voice before sighing. There’s no way of knowing if our spell worked, and we can’t just wait and do nothing!

-I… I’m sorry Amity. Maybe they just need time to discuss? Maybe they’ll tell you this evening that they changed their mind?

Luz was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Amity. Even though the plan sounded cool, she realized now that it relied way too much on Amity’s parents’ empathy.

Putting her feelings aside, Luz tried her best to comfort her friend.

-We’ll find something else, don’t lose hope. I’m sure there are tons of other things we can do to stop their sick plan. Can I hug you?

Amity took a couple of seconds to process the human request, then nodded.

As they embraced each-other, Luz let loose a little, realizing that the hug was probably comforting herself as much as it was comforting Amity. It was good to be in the witch’s arms, warm, feeling protected, as if nothing could separate them no matter what trials they faced. It was what a true friendship felt like, and Luz would be anywhere else for nothing in the world.

-Why are you late though if you didn’t get caught? Luz asked as they stopped hugging. You got me worried sick.

-I’m so sorry about that, I realized I had forgotten one of my notebooks at home and I went back to get it. By the way, shouldn’t we be going to class?

Luz paused for a while, only realizing now that she had been waiting for way more time than the twenty minutes she had before the ring.

-Oh, right, I guess we should.

-Again, I’m  _ so  _ sorry for making you worried and late in class, Amity apologized once again as they walked towards the entrance. Is there any way I could make it up to you?

Luz narrowed her eyes, conscious that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A smile appeared on her face as an interesting idea sprouted in her mind.

-I will forgive you if you let me hug you whenever I want without warning, Luz said with a sly look.

Amity instantly flushed. Hugs were definitely embarrassing for her, and Luz was very aware of that fact. It was what made them so interesting.

-I mean, if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, the human added.

She didn’t want to force Amity to do something she truly despised, and she had to make sure her friend wasn’t embarrassed in a negative way when they hugged.

-No, no, I guess it’s fine, Amity said, still a little red. But please don’t do it too often.

Amity stopped in front of the school entrance to grab the doorknob, and Luz took advantage of her stop to briefly hug her from behind. Smelling the wooden scent of the witch’s hair, she quickly let her go, aware that they were already very late.

-Thank you, she said quietly near the witch’s ear. I’ll make sure to use this power wisely.

Entering after Amity, Luz turned away as they parted to go to their respective classes, noticing that Amity was once again strongly blushing.

‘Well, I hope it’ll vanish before she arrives in her class,’ Luz thought, unable to prevent a smile from appearing on her face.

* * *

Three days had passed since Amity had casted the spell on her parents. With no noticeable effect, the two students had been forced to conclude that the plan had simply failed. Sure it felt sad, a bit depressing as well, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Luz, Amity, Gus and Willow were currently studying in the library. Unable to focus for some obscure reason, Luz looked away from the book in her hands and stopped on Amity. As always, the witch was studying hard, probably for the test they had next week, and she didn’t notice Luz staring at her.

The human remembered that she was now allowed to hug her whenever she wanted, even though she hadn’t done it since three days ago at the school frontage. Her plan was to make Amity forget about it so that she wouldn’t get used to Luz’s hugs too much. Even though the human genuinely liked when they hugged, she loved making Amity embarrassed, and hugging her was almost like a cheat for it.

Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind.

-Do you guys want to come over tomorrow afternoon? Luz said all of a sudden.

She had nothing planned for the weekend, and since she feared that it would turn out super boring for her –especially after the previous one–, she had decided to invite her friends for a comfy afternoon. Luz didn’t have anything in mind apart from “hanging out together”, and she thought that they could decide together what they would do.

-Sure, why not, Willow answered without looking up from her notebook. When?

-Starting from 3, but whenever you want.

-Count me in, Gus said enthusiastically.

-Amity?

The witch raised her head when she heard her name, confused.

-Hmmm? I’m sorry?

-Do you want to come to the Owl House tomorrow afternoon? After 3 PM because I don’t want to risk disturbing Eda.

-I guess I can, she answered carefully. Hope my parents aren’t invited anywhere though, because I doubt they would let me evade it.

-Nice! said Luz, a little louder than she would have liked.

She tried to get back into reading her book, but now she was too excited to focus. Giving up on her lesson, Luz decided to put the book back in her bag. She would have the whole Sunday to study anyway.

-Aren’t you guys hungry? Gus asked suddenly. I’m starving.

-I guess we could go get lunch now, Willow said, looking alternately at Luz and Amity to get their approval.

Since none of them opposed the idea, everyone gathered their stuff and they all went to the cafeteria.

On their way, the group crossed Viney’s path, and the witch winked at Luz. Luz felt her cheeks warm up because of the unexpected sign of complicity from an upperclassman. She quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but luckily no one had caught the witch’s gesture apart from Amity, who already knew Viney had helped Luz last week. Curiously though, the green-haired witch looked disconcerted. Maybe it was unusual to do such things in the Boiling Isles, Luz still didn’t know about all the social codes of its inhabitants.

-What’s wrong? she asked Amity discreetly.

The witch stared at Luz for a couple of seconds, not understanding why she had asked that.

-Oh, uhhh, nothing, Amity answered. I just… make weird faces sometimes without realizing, don’t worry about it.

Luz wasn’t convinced at all, but she didn’t try to force her to explain. Amity probably wouldn’t change her mind even if Luz had insisted, and it felt wrong to force your friends to tell you something they wanted to keep for themselves. Luz just hoped that there wasn’t something about the marriage that Amity was hiding to her, but it seemed very unlikely.

After they ate, they all spent the afternoon outside learning how to ride a broom. Luz had never expected to get this kind of class at Hexside, being convinced that it was just fantasy stuff in works of fiction from her world. But apparently, it wasn’t just fiction.

Surprisingly, riding a broom was actually not that complicated in itself. Luz didn’t take long before being able to control it as well as any other student. What was ridiculously hard though was the rules, codes and tips they had to learn for riding. There was an overly complex list of stupid rules to follow when you rided a broom in a town or over a public area –as dumb as car rules in the human world–, but the fact that brooms also had a third dimension (people could come from above and from below) made it even more complex.

What seemed like a fun afternoon on a broom in the first thirty minutes ended up in one of Luz’s biggest headaches.

Relieved after it ended, she went back from school with Amity as usual, and made sure to remind the witch about their plan for the next day. Amity promised Luz that she would find a way to send her a message if she couldn’t come for any reason, and the two students separated to finally end their school week and get back to their houses.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that there was no chapter yesterday, I had a school project to finish :x  
> So I made today's chapter longer to compensate :D I hope you'll enjoy

Luz was sitting on the couch, waiting for her friends. She had spent most of her morning making cookies and a cake, and now that everything was ready she didn’t have anything else to do.

It had been drizzling outside since Luz had woken up, and the sad weather had made the human very anxious and frustrated ever since. Her main plan for the afternoon was to hang out anywhere the teens usually hung out around Bonesborough, and right now, that was heavily compromised. There was still the board game option, but it sounded a little lame and it was far from ideal.

Eda wasn’t known for having a big amount of board games in her house, especially since there were no children before Luz arrived –and King was probably way too impulsive to even try playing to anything that had rules with him–. Actually, Luz would be amazed if they even managed to find a single game in all the junk Eda had brought back from the human realm. She usually threw away anything that didn’t look interesting, and Luz doubted that her mentor would find any board game even remotely intriguing.

Gus arrived first, dressed with a yellow poncho that looked incredibly childish but seemed to do a great job at keeping him dry. Not long after him Willow also showed up, with a dark-green raincoat. Luz could tell the witch was having problems with keeping her hair dry when she noticed how some of them stuck out of her hood, a little wet.

Luz offered to take care of both of their wet garments as she invited the two of them to sit on the couch while they were waiting for Amity.

-Any update on the whole forced marriage situation? Willow inquired, taking advantage of Amity’s absence to ask Luz about it.

She seemed to be truly worried for the green-haired witch, so Luz decided that she could tell her about the plan they had pulled out five days ago and how it failed. After the human finished her explanations, both Willow and Gus looked sorry, but since they didn’t have any new ideas to suggest –and Amity had kind of asked them to mind their own business–, they changed the conversation topic.

At some point, Luz finally heard Hooty yell.

-Luz! Luz! Someone is here for you~, he said in his usual annoying and teasing voice.

-Shush Hooty, Luz answered as she opened the door. I’ll take it from here.

Amity was standing in front of her, slightly blushing from embarrassment since she had witnessed the little suggestive tone in Hooty’s voice.

-Come in, Luz said as she stepped back to clear the way. Don’t stay under the ra- oh nevermind, it stopped.

Luz happily put her arm outside to confirm that no water was falling on her skin. She then closed the door, noticing the umbrella that Amity had left outside. No one came around the house so it was probably safe, and Hooty was here to watch over it anyway.

When she turned back, Luz saw that Amity had sat on the couch next to Willow. With three people on it, it would have been tight for Luz to sit there as well, so she simply sat on the carpet, behind the coffee table. This way she could easily get things in the kitchen without making anyone move to let her stand and sit.

-Let’s stay here for a while to make sure the rain has stopped for good, then I suggest we go outside a little, Luz explained.

-Seems fine for me, Amity answered as Willow and Gus nodded.

-Do you want to drink something? I have tea, coffee, some weird infusions I never heard about and orange juice.

Amity asked for a green tea while Willow went for the coffee and Gus picked the orange juice.

-You’re not making this easy, Luz said with a smile when she got up to prepare the drinks.

She had decided to go for a green tea herself, not being a fan of coffee and too scared to try any of Eda’s weird infusions. She came back from the kitchen with everyone’s drinks as well as the cookies and cake she had made earlier.

-I baked them myself, she proudly said when she put the plate on the low table.

Taking back her seat, Luz took a sip of her drink as well as a cookie and she caught up on the conversation her friends had started while she was in the kitchen.

-The cookies taste very good, Willow said after eating one. Maybe the cake is a little too sugary though.

Amity didn’t say anything about the food, but since she took several cookies and cake slices, Luz assumed that she liked them. Funnily, Gus seemed totally addicted to the cookies, and he ate more than the three girls together. Maybe he had never tasted human recipes before, but Luz was definitely curious about how he could eat this much when he was so tiny and slender.

‘If he doesn’t stop soon he’s gonna explode,’ she thought, amused. ‘Good thing we’ll run out of cookies before that happens.’

When everyone had finished their drinks, Luz looked through the window to check if the rain had resumed. Seeing that the sky had brightened a little, she assumed that the rain was gone for good.

-Should we go outside? she asked everyone.

-I don’t know if I can still walk after everything I ate, Gus said while tapping his belly. But sure why not! I don’t want to be stuck inside all day.

Seeing that Amity and Willow nodded, Luz opened the door.

-I think you should bring your coats, she said to Willow and Gus. It might start raining again, and you’ll be able to go home without coming back here if we stay outside until late.

Luz handed them their coats and everyone stepped outside, stopping in front of the house.

-Where are we going? Gus asked.

-Well, I was hoping someone would have a suggestion, Luz apologized, rubbing the back of her head. I don’t really know the place.

-I know a cool ruined mansion, Amity suggested. It’s a little far from here but I’ve never seen anyone else there and it’s a genuinely cool place to hang out.

Since everyone agreed –and no one had better ideas–, the group started walking, led by Amity. They were going away from Hexside and Bonesborough, through a way Luz had never taken before. She wondered if Amity had already walked on this path or if she just had a very good sense of direction.

After almost an hour, they finally reached the mansion. It was big –way bigger than Luz had imagined– but it was well hidden in the middle of all the trees. No wonder why Amity had never seen anyone else there; unless you stumbled upon the place by pure luck, the only way to know about it was if someone else told you.

As they approached the nearest entrance, Luz couldn’t repress a shiver from going down her spine.

-This place is giving me the creeps, Gus said, comforting the human in her impression.

With a rooftop partially collapsed, trees and plants growing on the balconies and some parts of the roof, very dilapidated walls, the mansion looked like it had been abandoned more than ten years ago. Looking at where the door was supposed to be, Luz noticed the mess inside of the entrance. It looked like the furniture had never been taken out of the mansion when people had abandoned it, and the passing years and people had only put everything in a giant mess.

The group stayed a few minutes in front of the entrance, everyone waiting for someone to go first.

-Do you think it’s haunted? Luz asked, a little afraid but willing to build an atmosphere at the same time.

-Luz, we’re on the Boiling Isles, there’s demons and ghosts  _ everywhere _ , Amity teased with a fake annoyed tone. Now come here, there’s nothing to fear.

She unexpectedly grabbed Luz’s hand and began walking towards the entrance. She passed the door frame and stopped a few steps after, turning back to see that Willow and Gus had followed them.

-See? There’s nothing except objects and furniture from where the mansion was inhabited.

Suddenly, everyone tensed as they heard a noise coming from the second floor.

-I’m sure that’s just dilatation, Willow said. You know, old house noises.

Surprisingly, out of all four of them, she seemed to be the least scared, as even Amity had dropped her confident act after the noise.

-Should we go and check out? Luz asked.

Even if she was far from comfortable, she was enjoying the atmosphere, and she wasn’t against some adventure. Not waiting for her friends’ responses, she began walking towards a corridor where she expected to find stairs.

In fact, given the size of the house, there were stairs everywhere –for the owners, the guests, and the domestics–, from big and carved ones to some others narrow and dark. It didn’t take long before Luz stumbled upon a staircase. It wasn’t as majestic as she had expected, meaning it was probably not the main one, but it was still too big to be one for the domestics.

Stopping at the foot of the staircase, Luz made sure everyone was following her before she took a deep breath and started climbing.

Footsteps. She was clearly hearing footsteps. She stopped, forcing everyone behind her to halt as well, and got the confirmation that it wasn’t caused by any of them. Frozen in place, Luz started to slowly panic as the footsteps became louder. She felt her heartbeat quicken, her palm holding the ramp sweated abnormally, and since she didn’t hear any sound coming from behind her she assumed that everyone else was in the same state.

The footsteps were now just over them, and Luz was starting to think they weren’t caused by ghosts but rather by a real living person. Which absolutely didn’t make things less scary. Who would be alone in an abandoned mansion?

‘No one I want to meet.’ Luz answered her own question mentally.

Still unable to move, Luz was mortified when she heard the footsteps slowly climbing down the stairs. They were about to encounter the visitor, and at this point she didn’t have time to run away with everyone, so she decided it was best to face whoever was about to appear in front of her.

She glimpsed a rose figure before closing her eyes out of fear.

-Ah! it screamed as it jumped.

-Aaahhh! the four of them answered.

Realizing that nothing was happening, they all stopped screaming, Gus a couple of seconds after everyone else. As Luz slowly opened her eyes, she realized that it was not a “it” but rather a “she”; Boscha. The witch seemed a little sad beyond her fright, and her hair was all wet, suggesting that she had come here when it was still raining, with no protection.

-I knew I heard voices from downstairs, she said casually, trying to hide the fact that she had been as scared as Luz and her friends. Don’t worry about me, I’ll leave you alone.

As the sadness finished to replace the fear on her face, she slowly resumed climbing down the stairs.

Luz, who was starting to regain some composure, turned around to see the witch start walking towards the exit. Even though Boscha had made some very questionable things, Luz couldn’t help but feel sorry at her sadness. While Amity had friends to help her and support her, Boscha was all alone, forced to isolate herself in places like this.

-Boscha, wait, she said.

She stopped, and slowly turned back. Luz could tell from her face that she just wanted to leave the place as soon as possible, but she wasn’t going to let her go without at least trying something.

-You can stay if you want. We’re not forcing you out.

Willow didn’t look pleased by Luz’s proposition, but she didn’t complain. Even if she probably wasn’t affected like Luz by Boscha’s look, she understood what the human was trying to achieve and thought it was very nice of her.

-I don’t want to disturb you. I wasn’t doing anything anyway, so I might as well just leave.

-You’re not disturbing us, Luz stated.

She took a long inspiration, trying to find the right words to convince the three-eyed witch.

-I know what you’re going through, and I think… I think you should talk about it. Believe me, it would make you feel better.

Boscha seemed hesitant, half-convinced by Luz. The human knew that she had to force her a little to fully convince her, so she went more straight-forward.

-We didn’t have any plans, and we were probably just going to explore and sit in whatever not-too-frightening place we would find to discuss. Come.

Luz reached out her hand, making it look like she was waiting for the witch to grab it, even though they were more than twenty feets apart. She knew that if Boscha made a single step back towards them, she wouldn’t change her mind afterwards.

-You don’t have to go through this alone.

Boscha hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly came back towards the group. She didn’t say anything, and she still seemed as depressed as earlier.

‘But now at least I can try to cheer her up,’ Luz thought.

-Do you know any place where we could settle down? Luz asked her since she had probably more knowledge than them about the mansion.

-Mmh-mmh, Boscha murmured while nodding.

She climbed back the stairs and, followed by Luz and everyone else, took a few turns before arriving in what seemed to be a bedroom.

Apart from the massive four poster bed, there was a little table surrounded by three armchairs. Everything on the shelves and in the tirrors had been pushed down or tossed to the floor by people probably looking for any valuables they could find, and a big shattered mirror was facing the bed. Surprisingly, even though the bed and armchairs were dusty, they weren’t damaged.

Without a word, Amity and Luz sat on the bed while Boscha, Willow and Gus all sat in the armchairs. Of course, Boscha took the farthest.

No one really knew what to say, and a feeling of awkwardness was starting to grow in the room. Luz didn’t really know where to start, and she expected someone to help her comfort Boscha. Surprisingly, the three-eyed witch was the first one to talk.

-Willow, she started, causing the witch to slightly tense from apprehension. I want to apologize for everything I did to you. I don’t expect you to forgive me or anything, but I won’t bother you anymore.

Boscha seemed cold and distant as she apologized. She didn’t look sorry, but rather like someone who had simply realized how dumb her actions were.

-It’s fine, Willow answered, as cold as Boscha.

It would probably take a lot of time for Willow to forgive her, and maybe she never would, but at least she didn’t show hostility.

Luz, relieved that the two hadn’t started a fight, and willing to improve the atmosphere, tried to switch to a lighter topic.

-How did you find out about this place anyway Boscha? I never thought we would run into you, especially this far from Bonesborough.

-Amity and I used to come here often when we were dat-

The witch put her hand over her mouth, realizing that she had made a mistake. Unfortunately, everyone had understood what she meant, and Luz, Gus and Willow all had their eyes widened, mouth agape.

-Boscha! Amity yelled, her face full of anger.

As she saw the witch getting up, and fearing that she might do something violent to Boscha, Luz grabbed Amity’s hand to hold her back.

-Amity, calm down!

Amity froze, hesitating between listening to Luz and freeing her hand. After a couple a seconds, she sighed and sat back, putting her face in her hands.

-So, you two have been dating? Willow asked carefully.

-It was two years ago, Amity stated. We’re both over it so we decided to never talk about it to anyone.

She removed her hands from her face to glare at Boscha.

-So uhh, Luz started, trying to make the conversation divert. Is this why your parents picked you for the arranged marriage?

Boscha interrogatively looked at Amity. Apparently, it wasn’t something that they had considered.

-I don’t think so, Amity said. Our parents weren’t aware that we dated, and it seems unlikely that they would have picked the marriage based on this criteria anyway.

Boscha nodded to confirm what Amity had just said.

-So it’s just a coincidence? Luz asked.

-Most likely.

Luz grabbed her chin with her hand, thinking. What she thought was a very useful information to fight against the marriage turned out to be useless. They were still at the starting point.

-I’m so sorry Amity, she said suddenly, overwhelmed by her despair. I try to help about the marriage but I can’t find anything that could work.

Amity took Luz’s hand, trying to comfort her.

-Don’t worry, she told her. We still have time, and what matters is that we don’t give up.

Amity slowly put her thumb and index finger under Luz’s chin to lift it, forcing the human to look into her eyes.

-We’ll find a solution.

Luz seemed to calm down a little, and Amity’s face slightly turned to red as her eyes widened and she withdrew her hand from Luz’s face.

At least, Amity wasn’t angry at Boscha anymore.

From here, the mood considerably improved. Now that everything had been told, it felt like Boscha was more open and she even talked a few times without being solicited. Luz assured her that they were here if she ever needed emotional support, and that she didn’t have to fear talking to her friends about her feelings. The human wasn’t sure she had convinced her, but at least it was a first step.

After that, they all went back to more casual topics. The atmosphere had been heavy since they had entered the mansion, and they were all relieved to finally get to relax a little. Eventually, the sky started to darken outside, making them realize that the day was almost finished.

Even though Luz had suggested that they could separate here without going back to the Owl House, they ended up sticking together since it was on the way to everyone’s houses anyway. Even Boscha.

The three-eyed witch seemed uncomfortable being around them and never talked unless someone asked her anything, but it was still a considerable improvement according to Luz.

It was almost night when they reached the Owl House. Luz tried to give a few remaining cake slices to those who wanted, but they all turned down her offer, saying that they were about to eat when they would get home.

Luz waved at them from the door frame as they walked away. It had been a day full of emotions and drama, but she felt like things had considerably gotten better.


	13. Chapter 13

Luz was patiently waiting for the bell to scream, trying to not focus on her hunger too much. After going through a test in the first period, she’d had trouble focusing and overall felt like the morning lasted for way more hours than reality.

Apart from one class with Gus, she had been alone all morning, and in fact she still hadn’t seen Willow or Amity. Given that she hadn’t talked to them since their Saturday trip, she had plenty of things to tell and was impatient to finally meet her friends back.

Sadly, the teacher didn’t finish the class early; in fact, they even kept the students for almost five more minutes.

As Luz and her classmates all flowed through the door when they were finally authorized to leave, the human started walking very fast towards the cafeteria, afraid about having to wait more before eating. When she arrived near the cafeteria, her face crumbled when she noticed the gigantic line.

Slowly walking to queue up, Luz turned her head when she heard her name through the din caused by all the students. She saw Amity wave at her, with Willow and Gus behind her. They were in the line, but way closer to the cafeteria than Luz would have been if she had just walked all the way to the back. Relieved, she happily jogged towards them.

-Hi! the human said when she came within earshot. How are you?

She instantly noticed Amity’s gloomy face, regretting her cheerful greeting. Something wasn’t right.

-Is everything okay Amity? she asked before anyone could answer her first question.

The witch sighed. Apparently, Luz wasn’t the first one to ask.

-Yesterday, she started. My parents told me that they had planned the wedding. I’ll be married in two months.

Amity suddenly hugged her tight and started breathing faster. Luz, a little surprised at first, put her hands behind the witch’s back, assuming that she probably needed to be reassured. From the looks of it, she had been waiting to talk to someone and let her feelings out. Luz heard Amity sobbing over her shoulder and she squeezed the witch even harder, trying her best to calm her.

-There’s no need to panic about it, Luz said while slowly rubbing her back, trying to sound understanding and confident. Don’t worry, we won’t let it happen to you.

Amity slowly relaxed, each sob getting more and more spaced until they completely stopped. Looking around, Luz made sure that nobody was staring at them, and then she looked at Willow and Gus to silently show them that she had the situation under control. Her two friends were standing awkwardly next to them, and they apparently didn’t know how to react anyway, so Luz’s subtle nodding reassured them.

Gently pushing Amity away from the hug with her hands on the witch’s shoulders, Luz looked at her in the eyes to once again try to soothe her. It seemed to work as she noticed the witch’s breathing slow down.

Luz softly wiped Amity’s eyes with the second phalanx of her index finger. She expected the witch to blush or push her hand away but she simply didn’t react, apparently too disturbed to even realize what Luz had just done.

-Sorry, Amity apologized, her voice still shaking.

-It’s okay. It’s not your fault if you have anxiety attacks, and I’m pretty sure it’s better for you to have them with friends who can cheer you up rather than alone.

Luz tried to put on her widest and most optimistic smile. She let go of Amity’s shoulders and grabbed her hand to keep a physical contact. Since the witch had noticeably calmed down, she realized Luz was holding her hand in front of Willow, Gus, and basically the whole school, which made her blush. Luz took it as a sign that she was almost back to her usual state.

Since it was their turn to pick their food, they didn’t talk until they were sitting at a table with their trays filled.

Now that Amity was back to normal, Luz allowed herself to look more concerned and she frowned.

-So your parents told you that they had scheduled your wedding ceremony in two months?

Amity nodded, causing Luz to grimace.

-Well, that is unfortunate, but it doesn’t really change anything, the human continued.

She noticed Amity looking at her with incomprehension in her eyes.

-I mean, we were already trying our best to find a solution as soon as possible, Luz explained. Now we have to try even harder, but the goal stays the same.

-I guess you’re right, Amity said.

It was the first time she talked since her attack apart from a “Sorry”, and her sigh made it pretty clear that she was still very saddened.

None of them were eating, too concerned to even think about their food. Luz put her head in her hands in order to block her vision and focus. She had been trying to come up with ideas everyday with little success, but right now it was even more important since it would cheer Amity up.

Suddenly, an idea hit her. She instantly lifted her head, a timid smile on her lips, but it seemed like Amity didn’t notice –even though she was sitting right in front of Luz–, too busy gazing at her plate.

-Amity, she started while touching the witch’s hand. I think I have an idea.

The witch straightened up, looking at Luz with despair and a glimpse of hope. Without saying a word, she waited for Luz to continue.

-What if you told your parents that you are straight? I mean, since you said they paired you with Boscha because they knew that you were into girls, maybe knowing that it’s not the case anymore will make them reconsider?

Amity didn’t look convinced at all.

-Do you really think they’ll fall for it?

Her question was rhetorical.

-They’re my parents Luz, she explained. They know I’m into girls and that it’s not going to change over the night.

Luz looked disconcerted; the best idea she’d had over these last couple of weeks had been thrown away so easily that it worsened her mood.

-Isn’t it still worth trying? she asked, trying to convince Amity as much as herself.

The witch sighed, maybe from annoyance, maybe from resignation.

-If I see an opportunity, I will. But I’m convinced it wont work.

Since no one answered, a long and awkward silence settled. Realizing that she hadn’t started eating, Luz took her fork reluctantly and started to gather things from her plate. Amity did the same, and they both ate in silence, avoiding to stare at each-other in the process.

-How was your Sunday Luz? Gus asked all of a sudden, stressed by the silence.

Luz described the end of her weekend, happy to find a topic that wasn’t heated. As they finished eating, they kept talking about very casual stuff. Even though Luz, Willow and Gus took part in the conversation, Amity never spoke, and it seemed like she wasn’t even listening.

As everyone parted to attend their afternoon classes, Luz felt Willow grab her sleeve.

-Wait, she said, causing Luz to turn around. I’m sure you’ve noticed but… Amity really doesn’t feel well today.

Luz nodded.

-Since you’re her closest friend, I think you’re in the best position to cheer her up. I- I mean I would do it but I’m afraid she’d reject me.

It was obvious that Willow felt uncomfortable, probably because it seemed like she was implying that Luz wasn’t trying anything to help Amity. Of course, Luz perfectly understood what the witch meant.

-Don’t worry, she answered after putting her hand on Willow’s shoulder. I’m not going to let her go home like that.

As the afternoon passed, Luz felt like a knot had appeared in her belly. She was deeply worried about Amity, and knowing that she was alone in class right now was really not helping.

Even though Luz had to deal with her own despair, she knew that the green-haired witch was probably in a far worse state. Heck, she’d even had a panic attack in the middle of the school! Luz felt the urge to do something, but she knew she had to wait until the end of the classes.

As the bell screamed one final time, Luz quickly got out of the class to go where Gus, Willow, Amity and her usually gathered to talk a little after school, in front of Hexside. She saw Gus and Willow when she arrived, but Amity was nowhere to be seen. Luz looked around, trying to spot the witch, until she saw her green hair slowly moving away towards Bonesborough.

Quickly explaining to Willow and Gus that she had to catch up with her, she left them and ran towards her target. As she came close, Luz slowed down in order to stop next to Amity.

She didn’t say anything, and Amity neither, so they both kept walking in complete silence. It felt weird for Luz to not hold Amity’s hand, giving that they had done it on their way home everyday for more than a week, but she didn’t want to startle the witch by grabbing her hand.

As Luz saw the intersection where they usually separated, she cursed at herself for not being able to cheer Amity up. She had stayed silent all this time, unable to come up with anything that could comfort her.

When they arrived at the intersection, Amity didn’t even slow down and turned right to take the path to her mansion.

-Wait! Luz implored.

Amity froze, a few steps away from the junction. Panicking, Luz said the first thing that passed through her mind.

-Can I hug you?

She knew that she didn’t have to ask, but since her goal wasn’t to make the witch embarrassed it felt like a mandatory step.

Amity had strictly no reaction. She was turning her back to Luz so the human couldn’t quite see her face, but she didn’t talk nor did she move a single part of her body to convey her answer.

Assuming that it was a “do what you want”, Luz walked to the witch and hugged her tight from behind.

None of them talked, and Luz thought that it was better this way. She knew she could be clumsy with her words and didn’t want to risk being misunderstood or even simply saying something that would worsen things.

-I’m not letting you go until you feel better, Luz finally said after several minutes.

When she finished talking, and as if it was some sort of signal, Amity squirmed to turn around in Luz’s arms, in order to face the human. For a brief moment, Luz saw that she was crying, then Amity put her arms around Luz and returned the hug. Eventually, Luz placed one of her hands on Amity’s head, softly stroking her hairs.

The witch didn’t sob, but it was clear she was deeply shaken. Luz could hear her sniffing from time to time, and everytime she did the human tightened her embrace a little, making sure that Amity didn’t forget she was receiving emotional support.

After a long moment, even though Luz was incapable of saying exactly how long they had stayed like this, Luz felt Amity’s embrace loosen, and she stopped hugging as well.

Finally looking at each other directly, Luz noticed that even though she could still see tear trails on the witch’s cheeks, she had stopped crying. She was even faintly smiling.

-Do you feel better?

-Yes, she answered. Thank you Luz. Thank you.

It was starting to get dark outside.

-Can… Can I go home now? Amity timidly asked.

-Only if you promise me that you won’t depress as soon as you leave me. Else I’ll hug you for two hours straight.

Amity let out a giggle.

She didn’t look quite as happy as usual, but it was probably the best Luz could achieve for now. Saying goodbye to the witch, Luz turned around and went home.


	14. Chapter 14

As the week days passed, and despite the efforts from her friends, Amity was still sad and gloomy. Luckily, she didn’t have any other panic attack at Hexside, but Luz could feel that she was still not over the realization of her approaching marriage. Learning the precise date had considerably shaken Amity, as if she still thought that it was a long-term possibility until now.

Luz was making sure to stay at her side as much as possible. Whenever she could, she would grab the witch’s hand and squeeze it. Even though it always made her fluster, Luz knew that it was comforting as well. Hugging Amity when they separated at the intersection had become a sort of ritual as well, but they never hugged as long as they did the first time.

Overall, Luz never missed an occasion to try to cheer Amity up, even when she didn’t look especially unhappy; it was a precaution, as the human believed that prevention was better than cure. Despite frequently trying to come up with new ideas to prevent the marriage, Luz made sure to never talk about it in front of Amity, afraid that it would ruin her efforts to soothe her. The witch herself only talked about it a few times, and it never led to any long or productive discussions, everyone trying to avoid the topic as much as possible.

Throughout the week, Luz had also noticed that Boscha looked sad as well. She had probably learned the news too, and it had most likely affected her as much as Amity. Skara and her usual group of friends, even though Luz thought that they were all cold and not very friendly, seemed to show compassion and did their best to comfort the three-eyed witch. Luz wasn’t sure how much they knew about the situation, but she trusted Boscha to hush Amity’s involvement up.

Currently, Luz was in an abomination class, one of the rare classes she had in common with Amity. They were sitting next to each-other, pretty much focused on the lesson, when the teacher started talking about a “life-long pact” you could make to be able to summon stronger abominations in exchange for some very rare ingredients.

Luz felt Amity shiver next to her, grabbing the human’s attention. All of this had probably reminded her of the arranged marriage, and Luz saw that she had closed her eyes.

Grabbing the witch’s hand, she leaned towards her and whispered close to her ear.

-Don’t worry, everything is okay.

When Luz straightened back to her place and looked up, still holding Amity’s hand, she noticed that the teacher was looking at them.

-Could you two lovebirds keep this out of my classroom?

Both Amity and Luz flushed at the remark and the student’s sniggers.

-We’re not… It’s not… Luz tried to explain, unable to find the right words because of her embarrassment.

The teacher was looking at her with an eyebrow raised. Apparently they were just waiting for Luz to stop talking and interrupting the class.

-Sorry… Luz apologized before letting go of Amity’s hand.

The human could feel that her cheeks were still red, and it wasn’t going away despite her efforts to breathe deeply and focus on the lesson.

Her and Amity? Lovebirds? She was slowly realizing that all the times he had held Amity’s hand this past week had probably given the wrong idea to a lot of students, and apparently teachers too. Burying her head in her hands, Luz tried to calm down as she felt her heart accelerate.

She had never really considered Amity that way, and the situation was forcing her to see the witch as something else than a friend, at least from everyone else’s perspective. Was it even possible? Could they be dating if Luz wanted? Sure, Amity had been clear about the fact that she was into girls, but Luz felt like the witch would never consider her as a possible partner. And more importantly, did Luz want to be more than a friend to Amity? Being something completely new to her, she felt like it was a question that would stay unanswerable for a while.

When the school bell screamed, Luz had managed to regain her composure, but she still felt like she needed to breathe some fresh air from outside. She hurried to leave Hexside and stopped at the usual  _ after-school discussion _ place.

-Sup Luz!

The human turned around when she heard Gus call her, followed by Willow. 

-Hi, how was your afternoon?

The two shrugged, visibly they had nothing particular to relate.

Amity arrived as well, holding a couple of books in her arms. She stopped in front of the group to take off her bag and stuff the books into it.

-I don’t want to get back home too late so I’ll leave now, she explained.

-Oh, then I guess I’ll leave too! Luz said almost automatically.

She didn’t want to let the witch go home alone.

-See you Monday! she exclaimed as they got away from Gus and Willow.

Before turning back, Luz noticed Willow say something to Gus while looking at them, but sadly she was already too far to hear anything.

As she walked with Amity, Luz brought up the most reliable discussion topic she could think of; Azura. The trip felt weird because they weren’t holding hands, and this time it wasn’t due to Amity’s sadness but rather because Luz still felt embarrassed about what had happened in class earlier. She couldn’t stop thinking about what would change if Amity and her were in a romantic relationship, and she also couldn’t stop wondering if she wanted this relationship to become true. Disturbed, the human often answered approximately at Amity’s questions, who eventually understood something wasn’t right.

-Are you alright Luz? she asked, a little concerned.

Luz gasped, cursing herself for being so easy to read.

-Yeah yeah I’m fine, she answered.

She felt her cheeks warmen a little, and prayed that the witch wouldn’t notice. They kept walking silently until they reached the intersection, and then stopped there, right in the middle. Amity was most likely expecting Luz to hug her, but that was definitely not something she was considering right now, not today.

The human opened her mouth, trying to say something to Amity, but no sound came out. Luz didn’t even know what she was trying to say, and staying here awkwardly was starting to make her panic. She felt her cheeks burn and flip-flopped in order to hide it.

-Is everything okay? Amity said behind Luz’s back.

Luz heard the witch take a few steps, which caused her to panic even harder.

-See you Monday! Luz shouted as she started running towards the Owl House.

Luckily, Amity didn’t seem to follow her, so Luz slowed down as soon as she was out of sight. She was starting to feel guilty about what she had just done, because Amity would probably be worried during the weekend, but running away was the only exit she could think of.

Later in the evening, Luz was sitting on the couch while hugging her legs, a pillow between her thighs and her torso. As Eda walked by, she took the opportunity to ask her about something that had been on her mind since she left Amity.

-Eda, how do you know when you have a crush on someone?

The witch looked surprised, but she did her best to answer Luz’s question.

-Well, I guess it’s when you realize you can’t stop thinking about them, or when being with them makes you embarrassed? I’m sorry I don’t remember my teenage crushes super well.

Eda looked sorry, but Luz still thought her advice was good enough. Luckily, the witch didn’t try to ask who she thought she may have a crush on, and she headed towards the second floor.

-Thank you, Luz said as Eda walked away.


	15. Chapter 15

Luz was daydreaming on her way to Hexside.

She had spent her weekend thinking about Amity, doing nothing else than just considering  _ what ifs _ for hours and hours. The worst was that she still had no idea what she would say to Amity in a few minutes when she would meet her at Hexside.

Over the weekend, Luz had come to the conclusion that maybe she did have feelings for the witch. It had been hard to admit at first, but she couldn’t lie to herself. Despite loving to have her as a friend, a really good friend, Luz was definitely okay to expand their relationship further. Everytime she thought about their hugs, the moments they held hands, the human felt butterflies in her stomach, as if all these actions had always held a very different meaning that she was only perceiving now.

Luz had realized that she saw Amity very differently than Willow or Gus. She wasn’t simply a very good friend, she was also someone the human looked up to, someone she cherished, someone for whom she would do anything. It was very embarrassing to admit, because it sounded extremely cheesy, but Luz felt like she was bonded to the witch. She wanted to be able to hold her hand all day long, she wanted to go into more infinite hugs with Amity where she would be able to smell her hairs, she wanted to cuddle with her on a couch while watching a movie or anything witches usually did on evenings.

After Luz became aware of her feelings, she realized how awkward it had been to hold Amity’s hand all this time. Even though her primary intention was to cheer her up, now that Luz was seeing it through a romantic lens she acknowledged how embarrassing it was. No wonder why Amity blushed everytime it happened.

The witch had now become her biggest problem though. Luz was aware of her feelings, but their reciprocity was still very questionable. Since Luz had become friends with her, Amity had never told anything that could lead to think she had feelings for the human. Even though she often blushed whenever Luz hugged her or took her hand, it was still most likely due to her embarrassment.

And this, this was a difficult step. Was Luz supposed to confess, to tell her feelings to Amity? Would she break their friendship forever if she did? There was no way to answer these questions, yet they kept popping back in Luz’s mind, like a curse she couldn’t get rid of. It made her extremely anxious, and right now she had her fists clenched because of the apprehension.

Luz was in a deadlock. She couldn’t just act like nothing had changed, first because she would not be able to, and also because she had to explain to Amity why she had run away from her last Friday evening. Her only option was to talk to Amity, explain what was going through her mind. But how? Was she supposed to just straight out confess? Or could she turn it implicitly in order to not scare her?

These questions remained unanswered, and when Luz reached Hexside’s portal she reluctantly admitted that she would have to improvise based on how the events would play.

-Luz!

Amity had just shouted her name, and she was walking fast towards Luz. The human took a second to breathe, covering her eyes with her right hand, then she lifted her hand to greet Amity with the best smile she could put up right now.

-Hi Amity.

-I was so worried, the witch said as soon as she stopped in front of her. What happened Friday, why did you run away?

As Amity talked, Luz felt her cheeks become hot. She hadn’t said more than two words to the witch and she was already flushed. She felt her heart beat in her thorax and in her head, as if she had become suddenly super receptive.

-I… uhhh…

Words didn’t come out of her mouth, and she had no idea what to say. Her embarrassment kept growing as she hesitated in front of Amity, making Luz want to vanish to stop the torture.

Suddenly, Amity did something Luz would have never expected; she took her hands. It was usually something Luz would do to calm her down, and living it the other way around felt both weird and relaxing. Luz felt her breathing and heartbeat slow down, even though her face was probably still flushed.

-Luz, relax, I’m not going to eat you… Amity said, trying to make Luz laugh in order to clear the air.

Luz squeezed Amity’s hands to gather some courage. She had no other options... She was about to say it.

-Amity… I…

The witch was looking at her in the eyes, holding both of her hands.

-I think I have a crush on you.

Luz had said it super quickly and super quietly, hoping that the witch would somehow not understand or instantly forget about it. But judging at her widened eyes and agape mouth, she had clearly heard.

Luz couldn’t regret what she had said, because she still felt like it was her only option. However, the relief of confessing had instantly been crushed by the apprehension of the witch’s answer.

Luz noticed that Amity’s eyes had become watery, and before she even realized it the witch was hugging her tightly.

-Luz, I’m so relieved, she said before sniffing. I thought that you were mad at me, I thought that I did something wrong, I thought that I had ruined our friendship! I thought that you had realized my feelings for you and that it was making you too uncomfortable to stay by my side.

‘Wait, did she just say “my feelings for you”?’ Luz thought, completely incredulous.

-I never told you because I thought it would ruin our friendship, Amity continued after several sniffs, almost as she had heard Luz’s internal question.

When Luz realized what Amity meant, she tightened her arms around her, trying to comfort the witch who was definitely crying right now. It wasn’t tears of sadness, probably not tears of joy either, but tears of relief.

They stayed like this for a couple of minutes, until they eventually stopped the hug. Luz could see tears in Amity’s eyes, and she wiped them with the second knuckle of her index finger exactly like she had done a week ago.

-So, you mean you feel like this too? Luz asked with a shaking voice, trying to confirm what she had understood.

-I was too scared to tell you, Amity answered, almost avoiding the question.

-Well, you don’t have to fear anymore.

Luz briefly hugged Amity once again as a way to prove what she was saying. She wanted to show the witch that she would remain here for her no matter what.

The distant sound of the screaming bell snapped them out of their conversation.

-Shoot, we’re gonna be late, Luz said as she started walking fast towards the school, still holding one of Amity’s hands.

The witch followed her until they had to split up to go to their respective classes. Sadly they did not share any this morning, but maybe it was best for them to be able to spend some time alone in order to realize what had just happened.

As soon as the last class ended, Luz rushed through the corridors to meet with Amity. She spotted her with Willow and Gus near the line to the cafeteria. As a wall of apprehension hit her, Luz slowed down and took as much time as possible to reach them.

Gus and Willow were acting very casually, probably not aware of what had happened this morning. And maybe it was best this way. Luz greeted them as she arrived, and they talked a bit about very casual stuff and what they had done on the weekend.

Taking advantage of a small silence, Amity was the first one to recall the morning events.

-So Luz… About this morning…

-What happened this morning? Willow interrupted, almost shouting, excitement and apprehension mixed in her eyes. Amity, did you finally…

She didn’t finish her sentence, but Luz immediately understood what she meant.

-Wait, you knew? she asked Willow, outraged. Why didn’t you tell me before…

Luz had made sure to say that last question in a childish and desperate tone to make sure that the witch didn’t take offense from it, yet she still answered unironically.

-Yes, but I didn’t want to betray Amity. Also I was trying to convince her to confess, and apparently it worked! So what did you answer?

-I uhhh… Luz answered, embarrassed.

She looked at Amity, hoping that the witch would rescue her.

-I didn’t confess, she did.

It took a couple of seconds for Willow to connect the dots.

-Oh, you mean you finally stopped being oblivious‽

-Come on, were Amity’s feelings really this obvious? Luz asked, trying to defend herself.

-Yes, Gus and Willow answered at the same time, causing Amity to facepalm.

-Hey! the green-haired witch shouted, pretending to be hurt.

-Come on, I’m the one who should be mad at myself, not you, Luz said with a big smile as she grabbed the witch’s hand.

Gus and Willow’s presence was making things less awkward between Luz and Amity, and that was something she hadn’t expected at all. The light atmosphere allowed them to joke, to laugh, and it prevented them from staring awkwardly at each other during long silences.

Luz and Amity only got together alone again at the end of the day when they went home. They were holding hands, their fingers intertwined, and Luz was humming a song, feeling at ease. From the outside, the confession hadn’t changed much for them apart from their fingers disposition, but in reality it had made things totally different.

Luz was no longer scared about her crush not being reciprocated, and Amity was relieved that she was no longer forced to keep her feelings for herself. Overall, both of them felt incredibly lighthearted, almost as if they were living their biggest dream. Except that none of it was a dream.

When they reached the intersection, they stopped and faced each-other awkwardly, not sure about what they were supposed to do.

-Should we, uhhh,... Amity started, blushing a little.

Luz quickly understood what she meant and leaned forward, briefly pecking the witch’s lips. It had only lasted a fraction of a second, yet it felt like the most amazing thing that had ever happened to Luz.

Knowing that things would become awkward if she stayed any longer, Luz started to scamper towards the Owl House.

-See you tomorrow! she yelled above her shoulder.

Even though she couldn’t see Amity’s reaction to the short kiss, Luz was pretty confident about the fact that she was probably standing flushed and mouth agape in the middle of the junction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gotta say, I'm not *that* familiar with romance, so maybe this chapter felt a little weird or anything since I'm still figuring it out. If you have any technical feedback feel free to tell me in the comments.  
> I still hoped you enjoyed it!


	16. Chapter 16

Luz had trouble sleeping that day, but it wasn’t because she was afraid or sad. She was genuinely happy, rejoiced,  _ in love _ . She hadn’t felt this great in a long long time, and it was all thanks to Amity.

Of course, Eda had noticed her particularly delighted mood, asking Luz what was causing it. The human had summed up her confession and Eda had simply said that she was happy for her before going back to what she was doing. She seemed to not care a lot about teenager relationships even though she cared about Luz’s wellbeing.

A little peaky because of the lack of sleep, Luz left the Owl House to go to Hexside, excited about spending a new day with her girlfriend. Wait, was Amity her girlfriend? Luz realized that none of them had said this exact word the day before, and even though they had acknowledged their shared feelings they hadn’t made their relationship official. That was something Luz was going to fix.

Luckily, when she arrived at the intersection where they usually separated on evenings, Luz saw Amity’s green hairs from behind a bush, probably sitting on the bench. When Luz passed the last bend in her path, she finally arrived in front of the witch.

-Hey Amity! I thought you took another way to get to Hexside.

-Well I  _ did _ , but I thought it would be great if we met here everyday before going to the school. I mean, so we can spend more time together alone…

Her voice got considerably quieter near the end, and Luz noticed that Amity was blushing a little. Seeing her still flustered even though she was aware of Luz’s feelings made the human melt internally.

‘Aaa she’s so cute,’ Luz thought.

When Amity stood up, Luz instantly reached for her hand, almost as if she was addicted to the sensation of holding it. After they started walking, the human decided that it was the right time to officialize their love.

-So uhhh, she started, I was thinking, yesterday we never asked properly…

-Ask what? Amity answered, confused.

Luz gave up on explaining and simply stopped walking, then she took Amity’s other hand in order for them to be facing each-other. After a few seconds where they simply stood still, looking deeply into each-other’s eyes, Luz cleared her throat.

-Amity. Do you want to be my girlfriend?

The witch chuckled.

-Aw, is it just that? She answered with a sly smile. I thought it was kind of agreed already.

-Stop teasing and just say it! Luz childishly protested.

-Okay okay, Amity giggled.

She took a short pause, allowing her to calm her laughter while also building some dramatical tension.

-Yes Luz, I want to be your girlfriend.

Of course, Luz already knew the answer. But hearing it this clearly from Amity’s mouth was… different. In a good way. Before she even realized it, the human started leaning forward, and she saw Amity close her eyes when their faces got dangerously close. When their lips touched, a shiver followed Luz’s spine, yet she didn’t back away from the kiss. It was a weird, good kind of shiver.

Luz closed her eyes as well to allow herself to dive entirely into the kiss. It was in no way similar to the small peck she had given to Amity the day before. It wasn’t one-sided to begin with, but it was also filled with passion, attraction, and softness.

A few seconds passed before they stopped kissing. Luz quickly caught her breath, and seeing Amity’s envious eyes made her realize they both wanted to continue. As she was about to close her eyes to start again, she realized that they were supposed to go to class. Letting go of Amity’s right hand, Luz rubbed the back of her head, putting on a sorry face.

-I uhhh, I think we should go to Hexside or else we’re gonna be late.

Amity was clearly as disappointed as her, but she didn’t complain, knowing that it was better for both of them. Luz made sure to hold her hand tight with their fingers intertwined as a way to assure the witch that it was only postponed.

After walking in silence for a bit, they quickly found a conversation topic and casually talked as they got closer to the school. The bell screamed once they reached the doors, as Luz was telling Amity that Eda knew about them being “a thing”. They separated since they did not have any classes in common in the morning, and Luz told the witch that they would meet near the cafeteria line as usual.

Surprisingly, Luz managed to focus in class and didn’t spend her time thinking about Amity. Sure, she was impatient to meet her for lunch, but she felt like she could wait years as long as she was certain that they would be together in the end.

In the last period, Luz was in potion class and had Boscha sitting two rows in front of her for the whole hour. She realized that the witch was probably not aware of her relationship with Amity, and that it was probably best to tell her now since she was supposed to marry Amity in less than two months. Still, Luz didn’t want to do anything without Amity’s approval, especially since it was about both of them and not directly related to the marriage. As a compromise, Luz decided to invite Boscha to have lunch with them. The witch looked confused at first, but she accepted, probably curious about the unexpected proposition. Trying to avoid uncomfortable events, Luz warned the witch that Willow, Gus and Amity didn’t know about it yet, implying that they could still refuse Luz’s idea. It didn’t seem to bother Boscha a lot though.

When they all met near the cafeteria, Boscha was standing a few meters behind Luz, probably scared to impose herself.

-Can Boscha eat with us? Luz asked the group, trying to make it as smooth as possible.

Amity and Gus didn’t look troubled by the idea, but Willow shortly grinned. Everyone looked at her, waiting for her answer.

-It’s fine, she answered after sighing.

It wasn’t a sigh of anger but rather a sigh of weariness, and Luz hoped that Willow was ready to bury the hatchet deeper. Even though things had gone somewhat smoothly between her and Boscha in their Saturday trip to the mansion, Luz knew that Willow still had some resentment for the three-eyed witch.

When they picked their food in the cafeteria, Luz saw Amity alone in front of the deserts and took the opportunity to ask her if it was okay to tell Boscha.

-Is it okay to let Boscha know that we’re a thing? Luz asked carefully.

-Yeah, Amity answered, not bothered by the proposition. She’ll eventually find out anyway, even if we don’t tell her.

-Can I say it or do you want to?

-Go ahead, I think it’s better if you’re the one telling her, Amity answered.

Luz and Amity were the last to arrive at the table. Willow and Gus were facing each other, and Boscha had wisely decided to sit next to Gus. Luz settled down in front of the three-eyed witch and Amity sat next to Luz.

-So, Boscha, Luz started. I just wanted to tell you that Amity and I… we’re uhhh… dating.

-Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me I guess.

The witch didn’t look unsettled by the information. In fact, it almost felt like she didn’t care.

-Just to be clear, please don’t tell anyone about it, Amity added a little awkwardly.

Boscha’s middle eye looked at the green-haired witch while the two others stayed focused on her food.

-Of course I’m not telling anyone, dork.

Even if she meant it in a friendly way, it was hard to tell simply with her tone, and everyone around the table tensed up, fearing that a fight would start. Luckily, Amity didn’t react to the provocation.

The group quickly switched to a more casual conversation, trying to avoid any unnecessary awkwardness. After a few minutes though, Gus and Willow were both busy eating, and Luz and Amity were staring into each-other’s eyes while ignoring their food.

-Willow, Boscha said all of a sudden. I want to apologize once again for everything that I’ve done and-

-Boscha please, Willow interrupted her.

She stopped to swallow the food in her mouth before sighing. Boscha’s face was filled with apprehension, fearing that she had upset the witch with her apology.

-You’ve already apologized, Willow continued. We’re fine.

Luckily, she seemed more considerate than annoyed.

-Sorry if it wasn’t clear, but you don’t have to keep rehashing the past, I’m over it. I don’t mind talking together or getting to know you a little more, please just stop bringing up what you did before, it just makes me uncomfortable. I want to forget it.

Boscha looked sorry, apparently totally unaware that she was causing pain to Willow while apologizing.

-Sorry about that, I’ll stop talking about it, Boscha said heartily.

The three-eyed witch paused, looking for an idea to change the topic.

-I always wondered, is the man working at Bonesborough library one of your fathers? she said as her face brightened up.

Willow blushed a little, surprised that Boscha knew that much about her.

When they all finished their lunch and left the cafeteria, the atmosphere in the group had considerably improved. Willow and Boscha were casually talking to each other, and it felt like Boscha had never done anything bad before. Luz was really relieved that they were no longer angry at each-other, and it would make things way easier for them all to try to end the arranged marriage. The group then separated, everyone going to their next class.

Luckily, Luz and Amity had a history class in common during the afternoon. Kind of traumatized by what had happened in the last abomination class, Luz and Amity made sure to not show anything that could lead the teacher to think they were being “lovebirds” and managed to act casually during the whole class. Maybe it would have been best for them to not sit next to each-other, but none of them would have agreed to it.

After the class, they met up with Willow and Gus at the usual place and talked a while. Even Boscha came by for a couple of minutes, making Luz amazed by how fast she had gotten used to not being their public enemy n°1.

On their way back home, the couple made sure to finish what they had started in the morning. Stopping every thirty seconds on their way to the intersection, Luz lost count after their tenth passionate kiss. The whole ride felt like a dream, and it took them more than an hour instead of twenty minutes.

Once they arrived at the junction, and after an even longer passionate kiss than the ones they had shared on the way, the two students separated, going back to their respective houses. As she was about to turn left, Luz looked back towards the intersection, realizing that Amity had done the exact same thing. Maybe if Luz had done that earlier she would have realized the witch’s feelings. But this problem was now fixed, and after waving at her girlfriend, Luz happily walked to the Owl House.


	17. Chapter 17

A few days later, on Friday, Luz still felt like she was living in a dream. Her week had been absolutely wonderful, and she was still obsessed with her new girlfriend –and that feeling was totally reciprocal–. Everytime they came back from Hexside took longer than the last. They would stop randomly to kiss for five, ten minutes, even pushing it to thirty when they were at the intersection, sitting on the bench.

The day before, they had taken so long to separate that the sun had set a long time ago when Luz finally arrived at the Owl House. Eda didn’t seem worried and was probably well aware that Luz was simply spending time with her girlfriend, but the human got a little worried for Amity, who was required to come back home before night. Luz promised herself to not let her girlfriend arrive home late anymore.

But she had the day in front of her, and it was something that didn’t matter right now. Luz was starting to see the intersection behind the trees, and apparently for once she was here before Amity. It was a cold morning, but somehow Luz didn’t feel the cool air on her skin, way too focused on her reunion with Amity.

Luz stood in the way for a couple of minutes before deciding that she could simply sit on the bench. As she was about to take her first step towards it, something grabbed her neck.

-Boo!

Luz jumped a little, but she was far from scared, immediately understanding who was behind her.

-You’re going to need more than that to frighten me, she said in a playful tone.

Amity’s embrace loosened, allowing Luz to turn around in order to face the witch. Their eyes locked, Luz taking her time to admire the beautiful golden eyes in front of her, and they kissed passionately after Luz put her hands behind Amity’s back to pull her. Enjoying this moment of bliss, Luz closed her eyes and totally forgot about the world around her. Only Amity mattered right now, and it was the best feeling in the world.

On their way to the school, Luz decided that she would tease her girlfriend by constantly booping her nose. It was very fun because it made Amity both angry and embarrassed at the same time, and seeing her flustered face everytime Luz booped her was something the human deeply appreciated. She was so focused on their “game” that she didn’t stop when they passed Hexside gate, and now that there were other students around, Amity’s face was flushed, convincing Luz to continue.

-Please Luz, Amity said as she stopped. Could you not do things that make our relationship too obvious when we’re surrounded by students? I mean I wouldn’t care normally but I don’t want my parents to find out about us.

Luz’s eyes widened as she realized what she had done.

-I’m so sorry Amity, she apologized. I wasn’t thinking about it.

The witch sighed, probably saddened because she had interrupted her girlfriend’s little game.

-It’s fine really. It’s not like no one noticed we were dating before that anyway.

Amity and Luz both looked around discreetly, noticing a few other students glancing at them.

-I gotta say, Luz started with a spark in her eyes and a playful tone. It’s not my fault you’re so cute when I boop you.

Amity, who had almost managed to return to her original face color since the last boop, instantly turned red again. She covered her eyes with her left hand, but Luz could see that she was smiling.

-I swear I’ll find a way to make your face flush whenever I want, Amity warned the human. And when this day will come, I’ll make sure you regret everything.

-I’d like to see that, Luz answered with a smirk.

The two girls went to their lockers to pick up a few books they needed for their morning classes, then they separated.

Luz had a plant track class this morning, and since Willow was probably already waiting for her in the classroom the human walked fast to arrive before the bell scream.

As she settled down next to the witch, Willow leaned towards Luz and whispered:

-So how is it?

-How is what?

-Well uhhh, Willow hesitated. You know, having a girlfriend.

Luz refrained herself from laughing, knowing that the witch would think she was mocking her while she was just very surprised by the unexpected question. As she thought about her answer, she almost got dragged into daydreaming about all the things she had lived with Amity this past week. Luckily, the teacher entering the room snapped Luz out of it.

-It’s wonderful. I think I’ve never felt this happy in my life before, and I really just… I love it. I love her.

Luz paused for a few seconds, knowing that she was a little biased. She decided to add a little bit of nuance.

-I know people say that this feeling fades out eventually, but I don’t care. The future is in the future, and I’m in the present.

Willow seemed a little confused, and it was understandable. Luz felt like she did a really poor job describing her feelings, but it had never been something she was good at anyway.

-I’m sorry, it’s hard to put it into words, Luz apologized. The easiest would be for you to experience it as well.

Willow nodded and slightly blushed. Maybe she had someone in mind, but Luz had no idea who it was.

After all of their morning classes, Luz met up with Amity, Willow and Gus to have lunch. As they were in the line, Boscha arrived and asked politely if she could eat with the group, getting nods from everyone. It was the third time she joined them for lunch, and it almost started to feel like this was perfectly normal. Surprisingly though, Skara, Amelia and Cat all came and asked the same thing.

Luz had never really talked to them, but she knew that they were Boscha’s friends and it was normal that they wanted to eat with the three-eyed witch. Since no one complained about them joining for lunch, everyone gathered to eat together.

At first it felt weird because the group had suddenly shifted from four people to eight, but Luz quickly got used to the several discussions taking place around the table. A delighted smile appeared on her face.

-Why are you smiling? Amity asked, curious.

-I just realized how better things are now that we’re reconciled with Boscha.

Luz saw the three-eyed witch’s ear twitch as she said her name, but she didn’t react. In fact, maybe she was even happier than Luz about it.

Boscha was still occasionally saying some borderline-offensive things to others –including her older friends– but she was making sure that they sounded like jokes and not attacks. Even if it felt awkward sometimes, it was still part of her personality and it wasn’t something she could change in a week. Everyone was just making sure to not overreact, fearing that it would ruin their common efforts to make peace.

Later that day, after they said goodbye to everyone, Luz and Amity came back to the intersection and, as usual, took their time to get there. However, Luz was unable to fully immerse herself in the kisses, bothered by something. Amity soon noticed it.

-Is there anything wrong?

Luz lowered her head.

-It’s just- I realized it’s the weekend and I won’t see you until Monday.

-Oh! Well about that, I actually had an idea.

Luz raised an eyebrow, hopeful.

-What about we go out in town tomorrow? Amity explained. It kinda surprises me you didn’t think about it before.

-Oh my lord yes! I’m so dumb! Of course I’ll go to town with you.

They started walking again, soon reaching the intersection.

-So, here, tomorrow, 2 PM? Amity asked.

-It’s a date!


	18. Chapter 18

Luz was on her way to the intersection where she was supposed to meet Amity. She was extremely impatient, and it was hard for her to not run. She hadn’t eaten a lot at lunch, knowing that they would probably stop somewhere to get a snack in town, but she felt really excited and was overfilled with energy.

The human was wearing the same yellow shirt, jean jacket and leggings as on their first “date”. Well, back then it wasn’t technically a date, but now that Luz was thinking about it she realized it could have been one.

Luz wasn’t quite at the intersection when she saw Amity pop up in front of her. She was radiant.

-Awww, did you walk towards me to see me sooner? Luz asked, melting from the cuteness of the situation.

Amity slightly blushed and folded her arms, trying to look angry.

-Don’t get the wrong idea, I was just scared you’d be late like last time so I thought I’d go and get you directly at the Owl House.

She didn’t manage to maintain her strict look for long, and when Luz pulled out her tongue in a silly grin the two started laughing out loud.

As she calmed down, Luz examined the witch’s clothes. She was wearing dark shoes, dark knee-high socks and a dark skirt, coupled with a grey shirt. Her hair was tied with a dark gray ribbon, completing the rather gloomy outfit. Overall, it made her golden eyes stand out a lot, and it was probably a good choice if she didn’t want to draw too much attention in town.

-Sorry, I didn’t really have anything else to wear, Luz apologized.

Amity’s eyes widened a little.

-Don’t say that! I know that you don’t have a lot of clothes, and besides I really like this outfit so I sincerely don’t mind seeing it more than once. Maybe it just lacks one thing though…

Her eyes locked on something behind the human and she walked towards it. Luz turned around and saw her girlfriend pick up something on the ground.

Amity came back towards the human with a flower in her hand, almost the same color as Luz’s shirt. Slowly, Amity put the flower above Luz’s right ear as their eyes locked. Amity’s hand shifted towards under Luz’s jaw, slightly pulling Luz towards her, and the two students kissed. It was a light, soft kiss, but it was filled with the same passion as all the others. A sort of appetizer.

Luz kept her eyes closed for a few seconds after the kiss, taking some time to appreciate the wind in her hair, the smell of forest, the sensation of Amity’s hand on her neck and throat. After a blissful sigh, she opened her eyes and saw Amity looking at her from really really close. Astonished, she took a step back as both her and the witch blushed.

-S-Sorry, Amity said. I was just… admiring you.

Even though she said the end very quietly, Luz perfectly understood and her heart melted. Not really thinking about what she was doing, she dashed towards the witch and hugged her tight, almost making the two of them fall.

-Stop it, I’m going to suffocate, Amity laughed.

The witch seemed to be joking, but Luz still loosened up her embrace a little, afraid to hurt her. They stood a couple of minutes like this, until Luz realized that they were supposed to hang out in Bonesborough and not at the intersection.

-Sorry, she apologized. I guess we should head out to town.

-Y-yeah, right, Amity answered, as if she had forgotten what they were supposed to do as well.

The couple arrived in Bonesborough busy streets half an hour later, taking their time to enjoy each-other’s presence and their surroundings. They stopped at a few clothing stores, but for some reason none of them managed to really focus on their shopping activity, too busy being in love.

Quickly realizing it, Amity suggested to go to the same tearoom as their last date, and Luz happily agreed. It had a very cosy atmosphere, was a familiar place, and most importantly it would allow them to be face-to-face.

This time, they took a green tea for two and a lemon pie, and then settled down at the most isolated table they managed to find. They weren’t close to a window, but it was a fair compromise.

For a couple of minutes, none of them talked. It was far from being an awkward silence though, both simply enjoying being here, in the tearoom, with their partner. It was surprisingly soothing.

-I was wondering, Luz started after a question went through her mind. When we were here the first time…

Amity started blushing substantially, probably because she had guessed Luz’s question.

-Did you, you know, already have a crush on me?

-I uhhh, I guess I did, Amity answered after a sigh, flustered. Honestly, I realized I had a crush on you wayyy before that. Probably when we met on the Knee.

The witch was flustered, and Luz took it as an invitation to tease her more.

-You know that it would have made things way easier if you had told me about your feelings back then, right? she stated with the most stoic face she could put out.

-I know, I just… I still needed to accept it. And also it’s  _ not  _ an easy thing to tell someone, I mean you confessed to me so you probably know!

Luz smirked.

-At least I did something, she answered before taking a bite in her lemon pie slice.

Amity frowned childishly and made a round with her finger in the air, showing that she was using magic. Before Luz even realized it, the pie in her hands briefly levitated, crashing on her nose before going back to her hand. When she looked up, the human saw that Amity had a satisfied look.

Luz could see some yellow topping on her nose if she crossed her eyes, and she tried to lick it with her tongue, before sadly realizing she couldn’t touch her nose with it. The witch stared at her with a sly smile throughout the attempt, and when Luz gave up she suddenly stood up, leaning over the table. Luz raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Amity was trying to do.

-Come, Amity said.

Luz timidly stood up, a little confused. She leaned forward. Was Amity going to kiss her? As the witch got dangerously close, Luz realized that she wasn’t aiming for her mouth but a little higher. She felt a warm tongue on her nose, scraping the lemon topping and sending a shiver down her spine.

Amity quickly sat back, looking slightly embarrassed despite her efforts to be confident. Luz let herself fall on her chair and touched her nose, not sure what had just happened. Both of them blushed a little.

Luz couldn’t say that she enjoyed it, but it didn’t feel bad either. Just weird. She had kissed the witch plenty of times before, but this felt… It was unusual. A little embarrassed, Luz faked a cough, unable to hold back her smile.

-Weirdo, she said while sticking her tongue out.

-Not more than you, human, Amity answered with a sly smile.

Luz took a sip of tea, then managed to find a more casual topic to discuss.

-You know what? Yesterday, Willow asked me how it felt to have a girlfriend. Do you think she has a crush on someone?

-And what did you answer? Amity asked, apparently more interested in Luz than Willow’s love stories.

-I uhhh, I said it was wonderful and that I had never been happier in my life or something like that.

-Awww, that’s so sweet, Amity said lovingly. I would have probably answered the same thing.

Suddenly, the witch’s tender look saddened, as if she had just remembered something heartbreaking.

-What’s wrong? Luz asked, concerned.

-It’s just…

She sighed.

-I just remembered that I was going to marry Boscha in less than two month. I tend to forget when I’m with you, and believe me it’s better this way, but otherwise I can’t stop thinking about it, about what will happen after.

Luz grabbed the witch’s left hand and squeezed it.

-Don’t make it sound like it’s bound to happen. I promised you we would find a way to impede the marriage, and I am  _ not  _ going to back down on it.

-I know, Amity answered with a shy smile. I simply can’t get it off my mind no matter how hard I try, and I fear it’s going to ruin our relationship.

-Amity. I’ll  _ never  _ let that happen.

Luz made sure to sound deadly serious. The witch sighed, knowing that this discussion wouldn’t lead to anything and that she was kind of ruining the mood.

-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up, it just… Sort of appeared suddenly in my mind. I shouldn’t have talked about it.

-I asked you! Luz argued, determined to not let the witch take all the blame. Besides, I think it’s better for you to talk about it. You know you can tell me everything, right?

Amity softly nodded, still looking a little sad.

The two girlfriends decided that it was time to go home, especially since it was starting to become dark outside. Of course, Amity rushed to the tearoom checkout in order to pay for both of them. Luz didn’t even try to argue, knowing that the witch would be impossible to convince.

The air outside had cooled a little, and Luz saw Amity shiver when she passed the door frame. The human offered her hand.

-Here, at least your hand will be warm.

Amity gladly took it, intertwining their fingers as they were now used to do. It didn’t stop the witch from being cold though, and once they arrived at the edge of the town Luz decided to act about it; she removed her leather jacket and put it on her girlfriends’ shoulders.

-But you’re gonna be cold now! Amity worried.

-Probably, but right now you are and I am not. We’ll switch back when I start to shudder.

They finished their walk to the intersection, stopping every five minutes to share Luz’s leather jacket. When they finally arrived, both were a little cold.

-Next time, don’t forget to bring something warmer, Luz said with a smile.

Without warning, she hugged Amity. Even though it was primarily to warm themselves, Luz also wanted to cheer her girlfriend up after what she had said in the tearoom.

-Promise me to not become depressed about the marriage, Luz whispered near her ear before leaning back to see Amity’s face.

In less than a second, both of them forgot about what Luz had just said as their eyes locked once again. They softly kissed, this time lasting way more than the one they had shared at the same place earlier in the afternoon.

When their mouths separated, Luz almost went for a second one before realizing that Amity was supposed to get back home very soon. She stopped her embrace and took a step back, knowing that they both wished they could have stayed longer together.

-Go back home before you catch a cold, Luz said, still looking tenderly towards Amity. I love you.

-I love you too, the witch answered before turning back. See you monday.


	19. Chapter 19

Once again like last Friday, Boscha’s group of friends had merged with Luz’s so that they could all eat together. Everyone was talking about the incoming grudgby match against St. Epiderm, and Boscha kept bragging about how easy it would be to win.

Not long after they all started eating, something unexpected happened. Luz noticed Amity’s siblings in the corner of her eye –which wasn’t rare at Hexside–, but for some reason the twins kept walking towards Luz until they settled down casually at their table, Emira next to Amity and Edric next to Luz. The twins were so easygoing that it seemed like it was usual for them to eat with their sister, and it’s why no one around the table really paid attention to them.

Luz and Amity were a little startled though. First because the twins had kind of invaded their private space, and also because they feared whatever prank they might play on them.

-Hello mittens, Emira said while messing with her sister’s hair. Having a good day?

-Until one minute ago, yes, Amity answered sarcastically.

-Awww, what’s wrong? Emira asked, feigning ignorance.

Amity took a few seconds to come up with an answer, probably trying to not be too direct.

-I just want to eat in peace.

Edric chuckled next to Luz, apparently enjoying the little talk.

-Then why are you with…

Emira paused to count.

-Seven other people? Isn’t that a little too much to eat in peace?

-They are my  _ friends _ , Emira, Amity said, looking more and more annoyed.

-Then I guess you don’t mind two more.

Amity grumbled, unable to find a nice way to tell them to leave. Sadly, she couldn’t just ignore her siblings, because she knew that they would keep talking to her. Surprisingly though, they stopped bothering their sister for a while, busy eating what was on their trays. Luz and Amity looked at each other awkwardly, too afraid to talk with the twins within earshot.

-Is there something wrong? Edric asked. Do you usually talk this little?

His question didn’t seem to be addressed specifically to Amity since he was also looking at Luz when he asked it. It felt like he was trying to make them say something, but it was unclear what. Not receiving any clear answers, he continued:

-You know you girls can tell us everything right? he said while winking at Emira, not even trying to hide it.

-Yeah, it’s not like we’re gonna mock you or anything, Emira added, accompanying her brother.

-Did anything happen between you two? Edric continued. I hope it’s not too bad…

-Did you fight? Emira asked. Is it why you’re not-

-OKAY, okay, we’re dating, Amity surrendered. Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to know?

Based on the content look the twins shared, Luz guessed that it had been their goal since the beginning. Amity blushed a little, embarrassed by what she had just admitted to her siblings.

-Awww, Emira said with a smooth voice. You two are too cute.

-Stop it, Edric said to his twin. Can’t you see you’re making her blush in front of her girlfriend?

It only led Amity to blush even harder. Luz was starting to like their little teasing game.

-Don’t worry, I see her flushed face  _ all the time _ , Luz explained. It’s so easy to make her flustered.

Amity glared at Luz.

-I know, right? Emira exclaimed. You say the slightest embarrassing thing and she suddenly turns into a tomato.

Emira jumped as Amity most likely kicked her under the table.

-Okay okay, I’ll stop, sorry mittens, she apologized while messing with Amity’s hair once again.

Amity sighed.

-Please, just promise me you won’t tell mom and dad…

-Of course we won’t, Edric reassured her. We would never do that to our sister, right Emira?

She nodded. They both still had a sly grin, even though they seemed honest about this. They stood up at the same time, took their trays and started walking away.

-See you later mittens! Edric laughed. Luz, don’t drain all of her blushing out, leave some for us.

As soon as they left, Amity put her head in her hands, still completely flushed, and grumbled.

-Aaargh, I hate when they do this!

-I’m sure it’s just their way to be supportive, Luz apologized for them, convinced that they meant no harm.

-I know, it’s just… sometimes it gets a little unbearable.

-Do they know about the marriage? Luz asked, curious.

-Yeah I think, but they never talked to me about it.

-Why didn’t  _ they  _ get a forced marriage? It’s not fair it’s only you!

-I guess it’s because I’m the youngest, Amity answered and sighed.

Since the group had finished eating, they all stood up and left the cafeteria, not long after the twins. As Amity and Luz were about to pass the exit door after everyone, they noticed Boscha standing right after it, seemingly waiting for them.

-Amity, can I talk to you? she asked. And uhhh, Luz too I guess.

Guessing that it may be linked to the marriage, Luz and Amity followed her to a quieter part of the school.

-I know I said a few weeks ago that I didn’t want to go against my parents’ will to have me marry someone else, she started. Well, forget about that. I’m willing to help if you come up with anything, even if I have to turn against my parents.

-Thanks, Amity answered. It’s good to know it’s not just Luz and me against the world. If you come up with any idea, don’t hesitate to submit them. We’re kind of stuck so far.

Boscha nodded before rubbing the back of her head and looking up, as if she was looking for a plan right now.

-What made you change your mind? Luz asked, curious.

-Reasons.

Boscha was apparently not willing to go into details, and Luz decided to not insist.

-Do you think you could convince your parents to cancel the marriage? Amity asked. Mine definitely wouldn’t agree, but maybe we have a chance with yours.

-Well uh, maybe we would have had a chance before they finished planning the marriage, but now that it’s fixed there’s no way they would renounce. And showing them that I’m against it is not a good idea, they would stop trusting me about anything related to it.

Luz and Amity agreed understandingly. There was no point in trying pointless actions, especially if they could end up compromising future plans.

The screaming bell interrupted their little brainstorm.

-Thanks for letting us know, Amity said to Boscha. I guess we should head back to class now.

As they all separated, Luz couldn’t stop thinking about the marriage. As always, once it filled her mind, she couldn’t get rid of it until the next day. The worst part about all of this was that she felt hopeless. And now that Amity had become her girlfriend, it was even more painful to know that she was going to marry someone else against her will.

Her concern prevented Luz to focus throughout the afternoon, and when the classes ended she felt like she had learned nothing. Luckily, talking with Willow, Gus, Amity, Skara and Amelia outside of Hexside helped her relax a little. They stayed for a while, gossiping about some schoolmates and teachers, or simply telling what they had done in the past weekend. When she was asked, Luz said that she went in Boneborough with Amity, not going into more details knowing that both her and the witch wanted to keep some privacy.

As always, the couple went back home together, but this time they never stopped to kiss, both of them being too preoccupied by the marriage. When they arrived at the intersection, without even having to talk, they both hugged for a while, cheering up each-other in their tight embrace. They felt good in their girlfriends’ arms, resting their heads on their shoulders, smelling their hair.

Before they let go of each-other, Luz pecked Amity’s lips as a sort of reminder that they were still in a romantic relationship. It was all they needed to trigger their feelings, and as their eyes locked, Luz leaned once more towards Amity, this time slower, ending in a blissful kiss.

Instead of stopping their hug after the kiss, Luz put her forehead against Amity’s. Their noses were slightly brushing against each-others’, and their eyes were only a few centimeters apart. At first, Luz wanted to say something to cheer Amity up, but she got lost in her golden eyes. Amity, who blushed a little at the unexpected position, quickly relaxed and admired her girlfriend’s face from close.

A couple of minutes passed and Luz, unable to resist, put her hand behind Amity’s head to kiss her one last time. Finally, they stopped hugging, said goodbye to each-other, and went back to their homes.


	20. Chapter 20

-Goodbye Eda!

-Have a nice day, kiddo.

Luz closed the Owl House door.

-Oh, Luz! When you come back maybe we could play? I reaaally want to teach you how to play catchbug, do you know this game? It’s a game where you CATCH BUGS! Allow me to demonstrate, first you look for…

Hooty’s voice vanished as Luz walked away, ignoring him. It was the same every morning, and she had learned with experience that answering could lead to very uncomfortable situations.

Three weeks had passed since Amity’s siblings had learned about their relationship, meaning that Amity’s marriage was supposed to be in a little less than a month. Even though they had made no progress in these past three weeks, Luz was still confident that they would find something. It couldn’t be this hard to cancel a marriage, right?

It was a very warm morning, and the dew made everything wet and shiny around Luz. The human could see leaves, plants and branches glitter around her, and it put her in a really good mood, especially since she was about to meet up with her girlfriend.

However, when Luz arrived at the intersection, she immediately understood that something wasn’t right. Amity was sitting on the bench, her head lowered, her shoulders spasming at regular intervals.

-Amity! What’s wrong?

Luz ran towards the bench to sit close to her girlfriend. When she got closer, she understood that the witch was sobbing. Amity wiped her eyes when she heard Luz and tried to lift her head to smile at her, but she didn’t manage to hold it for more than a second before she started to sob once again.

Luz fiercely hugged the witch, allowing her to cry on her shoulder, and rubbed her back.

-It’s okay Amity, she whispered near her ear. You can cry as much as you want, I’m here.

Luz didn’t want to pressure her, knowing that asking what happened would simply worsen Amity’s state. Instead, she decided to just embrace her emotional support role until the witch calmed down, at least partially.

They stayed a long time like this, Amity letting go of her emotions in Luz’s embrace as the human felt tears drop on her shoulder. It was very painful to see her girlfriend cry, and it was making her want to burst into tears as well, but she had to stay strong for Amity.

When her sobs started to space out, Luz gently released the witch from her embrace and wiped her tears with her index finger second knuckle as she had already done in the past. The witch was still breathing fast, but she looked a little better.

-You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to, Luz stated. Don’t force yourself. I’m here for you no matter what.

Amity sniffed.

-It’s fine, she answered, her voice shaking.

After a small pause, she started to explain.

-This morning, my mom came and said that they…

She sobbed a couple of times, on the verge to break down once again. Luz quickly reacted and grabbed her hands, squeezing them tight in hers to give as much courage as possible to Amity. After another sniff, she continued her explanation.

-She told me that they knew that I’m dating you, and-

She sniffed again.

-that I would have to stop when me and Boscha would get married.

Unable to talk any longer, the witch jumped towards Luz, trying to go back into her comforting hug. Immediately understanding, Luz embraced Amity once again and resumed rubbing her back. The human realized that it was probably better to talk to Amity in this position for now since it may prevent her from bursting into tears again.

-Don’t worry. I’ll never let your parents separate us.

She felt Amity’s arms tighten around her chest, as if she was trying to cling on Luz’s words.

-Come on, take deep breaths, try to follow me.

Luz started breathing loudly in order for Amity to copy her. The witch managed to do it a few times, and Luz could feel the witch’s chest rising against hers, until she eventually chuckled timidly. It was not what Luz was trying to achieve, but it seemed to cheer up the witch a little.

Luz ended their hug and looked deeply into Amity’s eyes as a way to show her that she was still here to support her, even if they were no longer touching physically.

-Do you feel like going to school?

Amity shook her head.

-Then do you want to come to the Owl House? We can’t stay here all day in the middle of nowhere.

Amity didn’t give any explicit answer, so Luz took it as a yes. She was probably too troubled to think about it anyway.

Luz stood up and gave a hand to Amity to help her get up as well. Even though she had stopped crying, the witch still looked particularly fragile, so Luz tried her best to not rush her. Slowly, Luz still holding firmly Amity’s hand, they started walking towards the Owl House.

Amity seemed to cheer up while they walked, or at least it was allowing her to clear her mind.

-Oh, I see you’re back to play bugcatcher Luz! Hooty exclaimed when they arrived in front of the house. And you even brought a friend! I can’t wait to spend houuurs trying to catch bugs!

-Shush Hooty, Luz seethed.

Hooty didn’t try to say anything else, disconcerted, and let the two students enter.

Luckily, King wasn’t around to witness their arrival, and Eda simply stared at them from the couch with her eyes widened.

-Come, let’s go somewhere a little calmer, Luz said before leading Amity to her bedroom.

Amity stood awkwardly near the door frame, a little uncomfortable.

-Do you want to lie down? Luz asked her.

-W-Why not.

Luz pointed at her sleeping bag.

-Sorry it’s not a real bed, but believe me it’s comfortable.

After Amity lied down, Luz put a blanket on her and sat next to the sleeping bag.

-You’re okay?

The witch nodded, enjoying the warmness and slightly closing her eyes.

-You want to drink or eat something?

-A glass of water will be okay.

Luz left and went back to the living room, where Eda was still on the couch.

-I see you finally dropped Hexside, she laughed when Luz came back. I knew it was just a question of time before you would realize how horrible this place is.

-I didn’t quit Hexside, Eda, Luz answered, a little exasperated. Amity just needed… some support, and she didn’t feel like going to school. What was I supposed to do, leave her in the middle of nowhere?

-Calm down kiddo, you do what you want, no need to justify yourself.

Eda resumed her activity and Luz went to the kitchen to get the glass of water Amity had asked.

When she came back to her room and settled down again next to Amity, the witch sat up to get the glass.

-Is it okay if I stay here? she asked. Won’t Eda mind?

-Don’t worry about that, she’s totally fine with it, Luz answered. Now stop worrying and relax please, you’re too stressed.

After Amity drank half of the water, she lied back down and closed her eyes. Luz gently stroked her hair until she fell asleep. It was probably better for the witch to nap instead of staying awakened and worried.

Luz spent her morning looking after her sleeping girlfriend. She seemed untroubled and tranquil, and the human realized it was a rather enjoyable sight.

Eda eventually knocked at the door.

-Lunch is ready if you kids are hungry, she stated before walking away.

Amity stirred in the bed, probably because of the noise Eda had made. Gently, Luz took her shoulder and shook it.

-Amity, it’s time for lunch.

The witch rubbed her eyes before sitting up. She looked confused at first, not understanding where she was, but her memories quickly came back.

-I’m not very hungry.

-Well it doesn’t matter, you can’t just skip lunch like that, Luz argued. Come.

She got up and pulled on the witch’s hand to help her stand up as well. She looked way better than before her nap, which was encouraging for Luz because it meant her efforts had paid off.

After they ate, Luz suggested that they went to Hexside for the afternoon. She thought that it would help change Amity’s mind, and it would prevent them from missing a full day of classes. The witch agreed even though she looked half-convinced, and they immediately went to the school in order to arrive before the first period of the afternoon.

Luz was a little scared because she didn’t share any class with the witch, meaning that if she had another breakdown she wouldn’t be here for her. Luckily, when they met back after the last period, the witch seemed okay.

They didn’t stay long with their friends after school and quickly took the path to the intersection. Once they got there, Amity and Luz sat on the bench, enjoying the small time they had before sunset.

-Be strong Amity, Luz told her hesitantly, not sure if it would cheer her up. For yourself, for me, for us. You can’t let the events rid you of your joy and happiness. And honestly, I think you look better when your face is flushed than when your eyes are filled with tears.

Amity shyly smiled and blushed at the statement, almost as if she was answering to a request Luz had made. The human took her girlfriend’s hand and laid her head on Amity’s shoulder. Cheering her up all day had been a little tiring, and she needed a small pause.

When the sky became too dark, Luz lifted her head and pecked Amity’s lips before getting up. She knew none of them were in the mood for long and passionate kisses, but she still felt like they both needed affection. Amity smiled at her in response and stood up as well. After one last hug, they separated and went back home.

-Don’t forget, you’ve gotta stay strong and brave, Luz yelled as she was about to disappear after a turn.

Even though she could barely see, she noticed Amity smile in the distance.


	21. Chapter 21

Two weeks.

Amity was marrying Boscha in two weeks.

That’s when Luz realized they didn’t have as much time as she thought.

The week before, Luz had suggested that Boscha could try the plan she had made up for Amity a month ago; tell her parents that she wasn’t into girls to have them cancel the marriage.

Sadly, and even though Boscha’s parents believed her, they simply said that it didn’t matter. The marriage wasn’t technically forcing Boscha to maintain any private relationship with Amity since it was just statutory. The two witches were simply supposed to act like a couple in front of rich and powerful strangers or in commemorations.

This event convinced the group that they had no chance to convince any of their parents to cancel the wedding. Something or someone external had to help them. However, since arranged marriages weren’t rare on the Boiling Isles, it turned out to be impossible to find a powerful person who was willing to help.

Making the wedding ceremony fail was another idea that came up, but sadly it was insufficient. Sure, it would give them a few weeks before the reschedule, but there was no way the marriage would be cancelled simply because something prevented it from happening once or twice. They still kept the idea in the back of their minds as a last resort since it would buy them some time to come up with something better. And Eda probably had some very good ideas and tips about storming a wedding.

The approaching marriage had slowly started to prevent Luz and Amity from truly enjoying their relationship. Each time they were together, they couldn’t stop thinking about the marriage, if they would be able to cancel it, and otherwise if they would have to stop dating. Luckily, since it was a shared concern, none of them had to force themselves to act like everything was normal.

Luz had joined Amity at the usual intersection to go to Hexside. This Friday was light in terms of school work since they only had two classes in the morning, followed by study hours, lunch, and broom class for the whole afternoon.

The couple talked about casual topics on their way to the school, and a little gossip as well when Luz brought up the incident from Wednesday.

Two days ago, Wednesday morning, the first students and teachers who arrived at school witnessed a rather peculiar event : someone had reversed the school during the night. The roof was partially buried, the doors were several meters above the floor, and most windows had been shattered in the process. Of course, as soon as Principal Bump arrived he fixed everything, looking rather angry at whoever pulled the prank.

Since then the whole school had been trying to figure out who did “the upside-down prank” as it was now commonly called. It wasn’t really in order to denounce the culprit but more because the students wanted to know who was good and reckless enough to do something this dauntless. There were multiple rumors and hypotheses, and everyone had their opinion about it.

For example, Luz was convinced that it was the Blight twins, and she had been trying to get intel from Amity since Wednesday. Surprisingly, and even if she probably wasn’t aware of it, the witch eagerly defended her siblings. It was hard to figure out if she knew something or not, but either way she wasn’t planning to tell anyone, not even her girlfriend. A little upset at first, Luz had turned this into a game and she never missed an occasion to badger Amity about it.

When they arrived at Hexside, a little early, the couple noticed Boscha, Gus, Skara and Willow talking in the middle of the hall.

-We’re starting to lack time before the marriage, Boscha stated after they all greeted each-other, seemingly worried. I think we should all meet up to try to come up with new plans. We can’t just wait and hope to miraculously stumble upon an infallible solution.

Even though Luz wasn’t really convinced by the brainstorming idea –she was already trying to come up with a solution all day long–, she nodded in agreement and turned her head towards Amity to show that the answer was up to her.

-I guess we could try that, the witch said. Should we meet tomorrow or did you have another moment in mind?

-I’m not really free tomorrow, Boscha answered. I was thinking about the study hours we have before lunch. Unless of course your scholastic success is more important for you.

Even though Boscha was their friend, she still never missed an occasion to gibe. Amity didn’t respond to it but she glared at her, slightly smiling to show that she wasn’t taking it too seriously.

-It’s fine for me, Luz answered.

-Would it be possible for me to join too? Gus asked carefully. I don’t know if I can be useful but I’ll try.

-Same question, Skara said.

-Me too, Willow quickly added, afraid to look like a bad friend.

-If Amity is fine with it, I don’t see why not, Boscha answered.

Amity simply shrugged as a way to show that she didn’t really care. 

-Okay, so let’s meet at the table outside of the school in two hours I guess, Boscha said right after the bell screamed.

Luz went to her first class, a construction one, and tried to focus on the lesson. Despite not being incredibly interested in this type of magic, Luz felt the hour pass incredibly fast, and before she even realized it the bell screamed once again. The second class went as fast as the first one, but Luz realized that she was anxious about their upcoming meeting, and that it was probably why the time was passing so quickly. It was incredibly frustrating because she had no idea why she was anxious about it. She simply was.

When Luz joined the others outside, her anxiousness had been replaced with irritation. She was upset at herself, at the world, and she felt like this was not her day. Of course, Amity noticed that her girlfriend was in a bad mood, so she sat very close to Luz and put her arm around her shoulders in order to calm her. Luz found it very annoying at first, but she didn’t try to remove the witch’s arm and it eventually ended up working, Luz suddenly realizing that she felt lighter and less troubled.

To thank the witch, she pulled her chin and pecked her lips in the middle of the meeting while everyone was more or less staring at them. Amity and Luz very rarely showed their affection in public, so it was something rather new for them and their friends, explaining why everyone looked at them for a couple of seconds. Amity blushed when she realized their small kiss didn’t get unnoticed, and she faked a cough as a way to show her embarrassment.

Overall, the meeting didn’t bring anything new. No matter how hard everyone tried, the only ideas they came up with were either unachievable or already tried, and slowly, despair settled down at the table.

It was when Luz understood why she had been anxious before the meeting. Since the beginning, she feared that there was no solution. She feared that no matter how hard they tried, they wouldn’t be able to prevent the marriage.

-Should we go get lunch? Skara suggested. I don’t think we can come up with more ideas this late in the morning.

Everyone agreed half-heartedly and went to the cafeteria. They didn’t talk a lot during the meal as they were all gloomy and a little saddened, and it almost seemed like they weren’t friends but simply acquaintances eating together.

Luz had lost all motivation for the broom class that followed, and she simply spent time wandering around for the whole afternoon, not even paying attention to the teacher or her friends.

Finally, the class ended and Luz headed back to the Owl House. Amity was as despondent as her, and they didn’t even talk on their way back. Once they arrived at the junction, they stood still in silence, not really knowing what to do.

-The fact that maybe there’s no way to prevent the marriage makes me feel devastated, Luz said after she sighed. I’m not sure I fully realize what would happen in this case.

Amity grabbed her hands and lifted them, holding them tight.

-Luz, you’re the one who said you would never let it happen. And I trust you. We’ll find a solution, even if it’s not perfect or optimal.

Luz cheered up a little, but she could feel that Amity was far from convinced herself. Knowing that staying together would most likely not help, Luz briefly hugged her girlfriend before saying goodbye. They had no plan for the weekend, and it was probably better this way because Luz knew that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it at all.

As she walked away, Luz glanced behind her to look for one last time at Amity. They would meet again on Monday, but for some reason this separation felt worse than all the others she had experienced. The lack of intimate moments between them due to their anxiety and the approaching marriage really made her feel like they had lost a part of their relationship that they would never recover.

At least not until the marriage was definitely called off.


	22. Chapter 22

One week.

Amity was marrying Boscha in one week.

Luz and her girlfriend were on their way home, and the human couldn’t think about anything else. They had spent the whole week trying to come up with ideas, but even with Skara, Willow, Boscha and Gus, none of them ever managed to find a solution. As the days passed, Luz was feeling more and more helpless. The hope she was full of weeks ago had been slowly replaced with despair, and her mind had only darkened since then.

Luz stopped when she felt a tear run down her cheek. She closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her forearm, hoping that Amity wouldn’t notice. But of course, she did.

-Luz! What’s wrong?

Luz sniffed, unable to hide her state to her girlfriend anymore.

-I’m sorry Amity. I’m so sorry. I’m so scared that we won’t be able to cancel the marriage, I’m so afraid that we will have to stop… being together.

Luz’s shaky voice turned into sobs. She started rubbing her eyes with her palms, as if she was trying to stop her tears, but it was too late. Amity froze for a while, not sure what she was supposed to do. It was usually Luz who comforted her, not the other way around.

The human felt her girlfriend’s arm around her, and even if she didn’t really see she managed to bury her face in her neck. For what felt like an eternity, Luz sobbed her heart out, unable to calm herself. Everytime she tried to breathe, cheer up, the thought of losing Amity came back to her mind and made her burst into tears once again.

The witch didn't say anything to Luz, maybe because she was uncomfortable, or maybe because she didn’t find anything worth saying, but her presence and her embrace were enough for the human. It felt like she could finally let go of all the negative feelings she had accumulated, and there was  _ a lot _ .

Everytime Luz’s crying worsened, she felt Amity’s embrace tighten, until she eventually started rubbing her back. Her movements were so soft, so attentionate that Luz couldn’t help but focus on them, mesmerized. It helped her a lot to get out of her state, and very slowly, she stopped crying.

-Thanks, Luz said between two sobs, her face still buried in Amity’s neck. You’re the one who’s getting married, I shouldn’t be crying.

She paused to sniff and sob a couple more times.

-I’m such a bad girlfriend.

-Don’t say that, Amity answered.

Luz could hear that the witch’s voice was shaking, and she was probably trying her best to not cry as well, as Luz had already experienced in the past.

-This whole thing concerns you as much as me. We’re dating Luz, don’t make it sound like I should be the only one sad and worried.

The human sniffed and hugged Amity, thankful that her girlfriend was so understanding.

-I know, but, she started, pausing to sniff again. If I’m here crying in your arms, who is going to comfort you when you’re sad?

Luz felt Amity’s hand in her hair. Her soft stroke once again captured Luz’s attention, slowly making all of her worries vanish.

-Don’t worry, I’m sure we can both cheer up each-other, Amity answered calmly. I would never let you be sad alone. I’ll always be there when you need me.

Luz burst into tears once again, but this time it wasn’t entirely because of the marriage. It was weird, as if tears of sadness and joy were mixed up together, only leaving a bitter feeling in the human. Knowing that her girlfriend cared so much about her was truly wonderful, but the overwhelming bad feelings sort of blurred everything together, and Luz wasn’t able to express it properly so she simply kept crying.

-I love you.

It was all that Luz managed to say between two sobs, but it felt enough. Amity’s embrace tightened once again, and the hand in her hair tensed.

-You’re going to make me cry, stop it, Amity said.

Even if her voice was shaking, Luz could feel that she was at least partially joking. The human chuckled and smiled, even though Amity couldn’t see it. Both of them were at least a little cheered up, and it was all they needed.

Feeling a lot lighter than before she cried, Luz finally removed her head from Amity’s neck and faced her. She probably had tear tracks all over her face, but she didn’t care.

-Go ahead if you feel like it, Luz joked. You gave me tons of ideas for the next time I have to comfort you.

-I’m fine for now, thanks, Amity answered with a smirk.

Even though the two witches were joking about it, they knew deep down that it wasn’t the last time they’d go through these breakdowns. Now that Luz had a hard time imagining any other outcome than the marriage and their broken couple, she knew that she would soon get all depressed again. Still, conscious that this may be her last week with the witch, Luz was determined to not let her emotions ruin it. At least not all the time.

-You know what? Luz asked, still in Amity’s embrace.

Amity shook her head.

-What if tomorrow we went to town together? As a last date before the marriage- not that we will give up about it of course. I just…

Luz sighed.

-I just want to spend an afternoon where we can simply forget about all of this and act like the arranged marriage doesn’t exist. Do you think we could do that?

Amity was looking at her directly in the eyes, and it was making Luz embarrassed. Even though she did her best to not sound too pessimistic, the “last date” part could lead to think that the human had given up.

-Yeah, I guess we could do that, Amity answered after a few seconds. Not sure I can simply forget about the marriage though, but I’ll try my best.

Rejoiced, both of them started walking again towards the intersection. Even if the days ahead were dark, Luz was glad that one of them would actually be bright, even if it was the last before long.

When they arrived, Luz and Amity kissed a couple of times. It was rare for them to find a moment when both of them were in a good enough mood for smooches, so they made sure to exploit it fully.

-See you tomorrow then? Luz asked, still holding Amity’s hands.

-Yeah. Same time as usual?

Luz nodded in agreement. She was supposed to let go of the witch’s hands in order for them to go to their respective homes, but she was having a hard time making up her mind. Amity tried to pull out her hands, but the attempt remained unsuccessful.

A smile appeared on the witch’s face. She was probably thinking that it was a game, which was half true, but Luz really didn’t want to let her go. Amity lifted their hands towards her face. Luz wasn’t sure what the witch was doing at first, but then she understood that she was probably trying to kiss Luz’s hand to make her release her grasp.

As Luz expected to feel Amity’s lips against her right hand, she felt something hard, sharp around one of her knuckles. Even though she didn’t feel pain, the surprise bite made her pull back both of her hands, releasing Amity’s in the process.

The witch had a sly grin on her face. She raised both of her eyebrows as a taunt and turned around, heading back to her house.

Luz giggled when she realized what had happened.

-I love you, she said to Amity before she was too far to hear her.

The witch didn’t seem to react at first, but she gave her answer as she stopped walking for a couple of seconds.

-I love you too, Luz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this chapter. It's too short, a little messy, and honestly I'm not super happy with it, but I hope you will still enjoy it~


	23. Chapter 23

-Well? What do you want to do?

Amity and Luz were in the middle of one of Bonesborough’s busy streets, and the human realized that she didn’t really think about what they would do on their date. There was always the usual tearoom, but it was still early and it would be sad to spend their whole afternoon there.

-Any suggestions?

-Not really, Amity answered. I thought you would be planning this stuff.

Luz noticed an intriguing sign further down the street and smirked when she read it. She started walking energetically towards the shop, and Amity soon understood where they were going.

-Wait! I’m not so sure about this, don’t you want to do something else?

-Come on, it will be fun!

Luz didn’t expect to find a “horror house” in Bonesborough, especially since those were usually in fairs and temporary in the human world, but even though it wasn’t super romantic she wanted to experience it with her girlfriend. Who knew what witches were capable of doing in terms of horror?

When they entered the shop, they arrived in a sort of lobby room, with nothing in it except for a bench, probably for accompanying persons to wait. On the other side of the room was a door frame covered by a curtain, probably the entrance to the scary part. Seeing nowhere to pay, the two students assumed that it was free and they passed the door.

It took a couple of seconds for their eyes to get used to the darkness. They were in an old-looking corridor with several doors on both sides. At the very end, it seemed to turn right. The only source of light they had was coming from one of the rooms, through the slot between the floor and its door.

Luz and Amity stood there, not really knowing what to do, and afraid to move forward. The atmosphere was heavy but not too scary, and they both knew it would probably only worsen with time. It was Luz who first decided to do something. She went to the closest door and tried to open it but her attempt remained unsuccessful since the door was apparently locked. Following her lead, Amity went to the next door and tried the same thing, noticing that the door was also locked. 

They tried every single one of them until they reached the first turn. To their right, the corridor seemed to continue with more doors on the sides. Since the light came from the door close to them, the rest of the corridor was filled with darkness, and they were unable to see how long it was.

Absolutely against going any further, the two students decided tacitly to try to open the door where the light was coming from. It was probably where they were supposed to go, and it was less scary than the corridor.

Luz narrowed her eyes and leaned backwards as she put her hand on the knob, afraid that some kind of monster would jump on her when she opened it. The human pressed the knob and… the light went out.

-Eep! Amity yelled as she grasped Luz’s arm.

Luz was startled, but she kept pressing on the knob and pushing the door, hoping that it would open. Unfortunately, it was as locked as all the others.

They took advantage of the time they needed for their eyes to get accustomed to the darkness, trying to calm down each-other by holding their hands.

-Did you really just “eep”? Luz asked teasingly, trying to minimize her own fear.

She couldn’t see Amity clearly, but she felt the witch’s hand squeeze hers.

-I don’t like horror this much, Amity confessed.

-Do you want to come out?

Without waiting for the answer, Luz looked back towards where they came from. Her eyes widened when she noticed the door had disappeared. Quickly walking towards the entrance, Luz made sure to inspect the wall, but there was no sign of the door; it was as if it had never been here.

None of them said anything, but they simply looked at each-other, afraid. Now that their eyes were accustomed, they could distinguish their near surroundings thanks to a white moonish light that came from the ceiling, but it was so tenuous that they couldn’t see beyond two or three meters.

-I guess we have no choice but to continue, Luz stated.

She was genuinely scared, but knowing that this was just an attraction prevented her from panicking. Slowly, the couple resumed trying one by one the doors to find one that opened. This second part of the corridor was longer than the first one, so it took them a little longer to check every door.

“BOOM”

A loud and low-pitched thud sounded in the hallway. Was the real stuff starting?

-Ouch…

-Amity? Was that you?

-Yeah, I uh, hit a wall.

Luz started laughing when she heard the witch’s answer. The scary origin of the thud had turned out to be a goofy action so quickly that Luz couldn’t help but laugh at it, mostly because of the adrenaline peak she had experienced.

-Hey! It’s not funny, Amity complained.

-Sorry Amity, Luz answered as she tried her best to stop laughing.

The corridor indeed stopped where the witch was, turning right once again.

-The street should be this way right? Luz guessed. Maybe it’s the end?

Either the witches were very bad at horror, either it was absolutely not the end, but they had no way to know for now. Still trying to open every door, the two witches finally reached a third turn to the right.

-So what, is it just an endless corridor? Luz asked. Boooring!

As a way to confirm her hypothesis, they reached a forth right turn.

-What should we do? Amity asked, seemingly way more frightened than Luz. How do we get out?

-I guess it’s what we’re supposed to figure out.

The two witches went around the corridor several times, in both directions, to try to find anything that could lead them to the exit. Sadly, all of the doors remained locked and they had nowhere to go beyond the corridor.

-Are we stuck here? This place is giving me the creeps.

-Come on Amity, I thought you were the brave one! Remember when we were at the abandoned mansion?

-Back then there was light, and it wasn’t the first time I came…

Luz was a little surprise that Amity was more frightened than her, but she had to admit; it was really cute.

-Maybe we just need to do a certain amount of distance in order to trigger a mechanism? Luz suggested, trying to comfort her girlfriend.

They started walking again, heading towards the next turn, when a door slammed loudly. They both jumped and stood still for what felt like an eternity, trying to hear if there were any other noises coming from after the turn.

Luz, aware that they couldn’t stay like this forever, carefully peeked in the next hallway section.

-I don’t see anything, she said. If it was really a door, it’s closed now.

Amity and her slowly moved forward, testing the doors to see if any of them had been unlocked.

-Wait, Amity said all of a sudden. Is it me or is something different?

They both looked around, trying to understand what had changed around them. 

-Ewww, I think the walls are darker! Amity said while pointing at a black stain in front of them.

Luz touched it with a finger and instantly withdrew, disgusted by the flabby texture.

-I don’t even want to know what it is, Luz said.

Suddenly, the human felt something hit her head. It wasn’t hard or big, but it rather felt like a drop. She touched it with two of her fingers and brought them back in front of her in order to see what it was. From the looks of it, it was the same dark liquid than the one on the wall.

Slowly, the two girlfriends started lifting their heads to look at the ceiling.

-Eeep! Amity yelled a second time as they both realized what was above them.

The ceiling was covered in the dark substance, and amongst it were dozens, hundreds of eyes, all looking at them.

The two students ran as fast as they could to the next part of the hallway. They stopped after the eyes were out of sight, right after the turn, where there was still dark stuff all over the walls, but at least the ceiling wasn’t full of eyes.

Before they even realized what was happening in front of them, the doors slammed. This time it wasn’t just a single one, but all of them, one by one. Amity embraced Luz through the whole process, terrified. She was shaking.

-Don’t worry Amity, nothing is going to happen, remember? It’s just a-

She kicked whatever was holding onto her as strong as possible while screaming loudly. She thought it was Amity that was shaking and holding her, but when she had looked down she only saw a dark and shadowy silhouette, with no face, no hair, no mouth.

Luz turned away and ran as fast and far as possible. It didn’t matter if the corridor was endless, she just wanted to get as far as possible from the monster that had put its arms around her.

One thought made her stop as sharply as she had started running.

‘Where is Amity?’

Upon her panic, Luz had totally forgotten to look for the witch. How did they even get separated?

-Amity? Amity! Luz shouted as loud as possible.

No answer.

Slowly panicking, Luz could feel her heart and breathing accelerate. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to get out, or did she have to rescue Amity first?

Her mind was telling her to run towards the exit, but her heart wanted to rescue her girlfriend. The human started to walk towards where she came from very hesitantly. She knew that Amity was probably there, somewhere, but the monster too, and that was a much bigger problem.

When Luz arrived where she had encountered the monster, there was nothing left apart from the dirty walls. No dark silhouette, no eyes on the ceiling, no Amity. Luz continued to move forward, very carefully, hoping that she would eventually stumble upon her girlfriend.

-Luuuz.

When she heard Amity’s voice from behind her, Luz rejoiced. At least now they were no longer separated.

But what she saw when she turned around was worse than her worst nightmare. She could recognize Amity’s clothes, but apart from that the thing in front of her had nothing in common with her girlfriend. Its eyes had turned into two holes, its hair was partially torn off, and its arms and legs were black.

Luz screamed. She screamed so loudly that it made her throat hurt. She was frozen, unable to move, terrorized. And the thing she thought was Amity was slowly walking towards her.

-Please, no… Luz said as she felt tears starting to run down her cheeks. I’m sorry, please let me out…

The human was now crying loudly in the middle of the corridor, completely overwhelmed with fear and despair. It was the end.

Suddenly, she felt the floor disappear under her, as if she was falling backwards.

Luz jumped in her seat, frightened. Her eyes took a couple of seconds to get accustomed to the strong light. She was sitting on the bench in the lobby they had gotten through earlier, and Amity was next to her, looking as lost and afraid as the human. On their right, an old woman was sitting behind a desk, smiling at them.

Had she always been there?

-I think I need a drink, Luz stated, slowly regaining her senses.

-Yeah, me too.

They left the building, Luz making sure to throw a suspicious look at the old woman as she passed in front of her. How did she appear there while the lobby was empty when they came in anyway?

-That felt way too real, Luz stated as they were walking towards the tearoom.

-Yeah, Amity confirmed. You understand why I don’t like horror stuff around here?

Luz nodded. She didn’t know exactly what the witch had seen and lived after they had been separated, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. The worst for Luz wasn’t the eyes on the ceiling, the creepy walls or the monster; it was the thought of losing her girlfriend, and then finding her as she had turned into a sort of zombie.

However, if this experience had one bright side, it was that it had allowed the couple to completely forget about the marriage. The rest of the date went super fine, and they never talked or even thought about the upcoming marriage, as Luz had wished.

It was only when she came back to the Owl House that she remembered her breakdown from the previous day and the way too short time they had left.


	24. Chapter 24

Three days.

Amity was marrying Boscha in three days.

Luz was on her way to Hexside, unable to get this thought out of her mind. They’d had other “brainstorms” the past two days but nothing useful had come out of them, and overall Luz felt like it was just a waste of time.

The biggest problem now was that even if they managed to come up with a super smart plan, they would probably have no time to carry it out. Their only options left were more radical, and it was hard for the students to even think about them. Hurting people, breaking stuff, these were the ideas they had to consider now. Of course, they were trying to find the least-harmful solution, but it was incredibly hard to predict this sort of stuff.

-Good Morning!

Luz saw Amity on the bench in front of her, and she sat next to her for a couple of minutes. They still had time before the first period, and she preferred to spend it here with her girlfriend rather than in the school hallways among all the other students.

-Hi. How are you doing? Luz greeted.

They both knew what the human meant; the time when she was careful not to speak about the marriage to Amity was over.

-It’s horrible. Everyone at home is acting like nothing is about to happen, and…

The witch sighed.

-I’m not ready. Not at all.

-Ready for what? Luz asked.

-For the wedding.

The human’s eyes widened.

-What do you mean ready for the wedding‽ It’s not going to happen Amity. We promised we would find a way to stop it.

Amity sighed once again.

-Luz, I… Do you really think we will manage to cancel the marriage? Do you think a few students can win against the will of two powerful families? I’m not giving up, but… I have to prepare myself for the wedding. Because so far it’s the only plausible future.

Luz was about to answer with a big speech about faith and motivation, but deep down, she knew that the witch was right. It was better for her to consider the case where they wouldn’t manage to cancel the wedding.

-You’re right… Luz admitted. I just don’t want to lose you, and I don’t want to lose hope. But I understand.

Amity looked a little surprised; she had probably expected Luz to react way more harshly. As a way to show her unconditional support, Luz firmly hugged her girlfriend. They were both about to cry, but none of them broke down, only holding thanks to the comforting hug.

-I will always be on your side, Luz whispered next to the witch’s ear. Even if it hurts me.

Amity retired from the hug and held Luz’s face with her hands placed under her chin, both of her thumbs on the human’s cheeks. Their eyes locked.

-You know that I would never hurt you on purpose.

Amity softly pressed her lips against Luz’s. Even with all of the events, their love was still strong.

-I think we’re going to be late if we don’t go now, Luz said a little awkwardly after the kiss.

-Oh yeah, right, Amity answered, as embarrassed as the human.

It had been a while since the last time they lost themselves in a passionate kiss, and it felt weird to find this feeling back. But it was a good kind of weird, almost as if it was the first time they ever kissed.

Rejoiced, Luz hummed a human pop song as she walked with Amity, their fingers interlocked. They arrived at school right on time, and since they were in the same class for the first period, they managed to find a table where they could sit together.

Nothing interesting happened throughout the morning, and Luz had a hard time focusing, but that had been the case for the past couple of weeks. When the morning classes ended, Amity, Willow, Gus, Skara, Amelia, Cat and Luz met in the hallways and entered the cafeteria line.

-Has anyone seen Boscha? Luz asked, wondering if she was late or if she had simply decided to not join them.

Everyone shook their heads.

-Hey, Eileen! Luz asked when she spotted the cyclop a few meters behind them in the line. Do you know where Boscha is?

-She wasn’t in class this morning, the witch answered in her usual muffled voice, shaking her head.

-Okay, thanks!

Luz never really understood how the cyclop was able to speak and why her voice was muffled this way, but she felt like it would be offensive to ask.

-I hope nothing bad happened to her, Amity said quietly.

Everyone in the group heard her and nodded in agreement, perfectly knowing what Amity was referring to.

-Did she say anything to any of you yesterday?

Since no one answered, Luz considered it was a no. She buried her face in her hands.

-Now it’s going to be even harder to cancel the marriage without her… the human complained.

A feeling of uneasiness settled as the group was eating. Boscha’s absence made it very awkward to talk about the marriage, and they all simply ate in silence, not really knowing what to say. On top of that, since she was the one usually leading the brainstorms, no one really knew what to do or where to begin.

Luz knew that they were wasting some precious time, but she never found the courage to take the lead. When they finished eating, she cursed herself about it.

The rest of the day went fast. Luz spent all of her classes trying as hard as possible to come up with a plan, an idea, anything to make up for the time lost during lunch. Sadly, nothing useful came to her mind.

After the classes ended, she met the others back in front of the school, as usual.

-Can anyone check if Boscha is okay? Luz suggested to the group. At least in order for us to know what happened if she isn’t in school tomorrow either.

-I know where she leaves, Skara stated. And her parents know me, I’ve been there several times. I can pretend to lend her some homework as well. Do you think I could go?

-Sure, Luz answered. Unless anyone else wants to?

Everyone shrugged or shook their heads.

-Well, I should get going if I don’t wanna arrive home too late, see you guys!

Skara started walking away enthusiastically.

-I guess we should leave too, Luz explained. Is it okay for you Amity?

The witch nodded and they started moving away from Hexside, towards the intersection.

A very heavy atmosphere settled as they walked. It felt like a thunderstorm was about to break out, yet none of them were angry or upset. Luz soon understood that it was because of the marriage, and that it would remain this way for the next couple of days.

Once they reached the intersection, they both sat on the bench, enjoying the little time they had left together. Their desire to kiss from the morning had totally vanished, and Luz felt like just lying down.

Listening to her heart, she suddenly put her head on Amity’s thighs and lied down across the bench, looking at her girlfriend with a smirk.

-What are you doing? Amity asked, embarrassed.

The witch was clearly blushing, and it comforted Luz to know that she could still do that despite the close marriage and all of her worries related to it. The human closed her eyes and relaxed as she felt Amity’s hand starting to stroke her hair.

After a while, she felt a drop fall on her cheek. Luz opened her eyes, scanning the sky to see if it had started raining, but the scattered clouds were definitely the cause of this. Amity was.

Luz instantly sat up close to her, trying to figure out what was wrong. The witch was sobbing silently, one hand trying to cover her face while the other one laid on her thigh where Luz’s head previously was.

-Amity, what’s wrong? Luz asked as she put her hand on Amity’s shoulder.

-I’m sorry Luz… I’m so sorry.

She paused to sniff.

-I lost hope, it’s… it’s over Luz.

-What are you talking about? There is still hope, we still have two days!

Suddenly, Amity dived towards Luz and hugged her, burying her face in the human’s neck. She started crying more openly, knowing that there was no reason to hold back. Luz tried to rub her back and her head as much as possible, but she couldn’t find something to say to cheer up the witch. And she knew that a simple “have faith” wouldn’t be enough. Amity had given up, and the only way to get her back was to find a concrete solution.

Luz sighed. It was too early to do that in her opinion, but she had no other choice.

-Listen Amity, she said while grabbing the witch’s wrists, ending the hug in order for the witch to face her.

She was still crying, but this way Luz was sure that she was listening to her.

-I have a plan. It’s not perfect, it’s risky and unsafe, but I have a plan.

She paused for a while, letting Amity calm down and breathe deeply. Even though she clearly didn’t seem to believe Luz, at least she was somewhat curious about it.

-Let’s uh… Let’s run away and hide. Hide as long as your parents haven’t given up.

It was a simple yet crazy solution that Luz had sworn to only use as a last resort. And now, it was the only one they had left.

-But where? Amity asked as she was wiping her tears with her sleeve. The Boiling Isles aren’t that big, my parents will inevitably find us.

-Somewhere they will never look, a place both crowded and filled with shady people; Bonesborough’s underground.

Luz saw Amity shiver. Everyone more or less knew about this place, but only through dark and scary rumors. Yet, it was the only place where Luz was sure that the Blights would never look, even for their missing daughter.

-Do you want to go there Friday, Amity asked almost eagerly.

Apparently, she had clinged onto this plan as if her life depended on it. Luz had just given her an unexpected bit of hope, and the witch wasn’t planning to let go of it.

-Uhhh…

Luz paused, considering their options.

-Do you think your parents could force you to stay home to make sure you don’t try to run away?

Amity widened her eyes.

-Do… do you think that’s what happened to Boscha?

-It’s a possibility, Luz stated while grimacing.

-So should we go… now?

-I think it would be better.

-Tonight?

-Yeah.

Luz couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. If anything happened to Amity because of her, she would never forgive herself.

-1 AM, here. Do you think you can sneak out? Luz asked, afraid that Amity wouldn’t be able to join her during the night.

-I’ve got some experience with that, the witch reassured her. I’ll be there.

-Good luck, please stay safe.

Without even saying goodbye, the two students separated and went back to their homes.

Luz made her best to not look suspicious throughout the evening. Even though Eda would be totally fine with helping them cancel the marriage, she would probably disapprove of Luz's idea, and Luz didn’t want to get her mentor involved anyway.

Once she was sure that everyone was sleeping, Luz grabbed the bag she had prepared throughout the evening and she discreetly left the house, avoiding Hooty by using a window instead of the door.

She had left a short letter on her bed, knowing that Eda would panic if she had gone missing without a trace.

_ Eda, _

_ Amity is supposed to marry Boscha on Saturday, and we can’t risk having her with her family any closer to the due date. I took her to a safe place where we will stay until her parents promise to give up on the marriage. Please, trust me and don’t come after us, I promise you that we are safe and I don’t want you to oppose the Blights. _

_ I love you, _

_ Luz. _

The human had written the letter quickly and in one shot, hoping that it would be convincing enough. It was mostly the truth, except for the “safe place” part. Judging on the rumors, Bonesborough’s underground was everything but safe. But they would figure it out.

She anxiously waited for Amity for almost half an hour at the junction, playing all kinds of scenarios in her head.

‘Did she get caught? Was she forced to stay in her room starting from this evening? Did she hurt herself in the dark?’

Luz sighed loudly out of relief when the witch finally appeared in front of her.

-Okay, Luz said, very tense. Here goes nothing.

She grabbed Amity’s hand tightly, and after a short glance to confirm that they were both sure about what they were going to do, they started walking towards the town.


	25. Chapter 25

-Now what?

Luz and Amity were in one of Bonesborough “busy” streets, not really knowing what to do. It was the first time Luz came into town during the night, and she found the atmosphere was drastically different. Even though the street was as crowded as during the day, everyone looked shadier, and overall there were a lot more people walking close to the walls. It seemed like every single person wanted to be unnoticed, invisible, apart from a few black market sellers.

It wasn’t surprising though, since most cities had similar phenomenons in the human world.

-Uhhh, Luz answered, not sure herself. Do you have any idea how to even go to the underground?

Amity shook her head.

-I would gladly ask, but everyone seems kinda… unfriendly.

-So, what should we do? the human asked.

-I don’t know… I guess opening the first manhole cover we see and go down has much higher chances to lead us to the sewers instead of the underground.

-Do you know what the people living underground do or look like? Luz asked. Maybe we could find one and follow them until they lead us to an entrance?

The witch shrugged, indicating that she had no better idea for now.

-I guess we should look for people with very pale skins, she explained. When I was younger, the stories about the underground said that their inhabitants never saw the sunlight, only coming to the surface during night.

As Amity finished her explanation, Luz spotted someone that fitted the description. It was hard to tell in the dark, especially with everyone wearing ample clothes and hiding their faces, but this person had their hands and ears visible, and they were almost white.

Luz discreetly pointed to the person for Amity, and the couple quickly started to tail them. They were heading towards a calmer part of the town, in a residential area. After a while, the person somehow sensed or guessed that they were followed, and they sped up.

Funnily, it seemed like Luz and Amity were panicking as much as the person they were tailing. They started turning right or left randomly, almost running, and the two students could see the silhouette often glancing towards them. At some point, they arrived at a dead end.

Luz saw the person freeze in front of them, probably thinking that they were going to get robbed or beaten up, and they slowly turned around.

-Wait, you’re just two kids! they exclaimed when they saw Luz and Amity clearly for the first time. Is there anyone with you?

The person was still looking everywhere, fearing that it was a trap to make them let their guard down.

-We’re not going to hurt you or steal from you, Luz said quickly, realizing that they needed to gain the person’s trust. We are just trying to go to the underground and we figured out you could lead us to it.

Even though she couldn’t see the person’s face, she could tell from their small movement backwards that they were surprised by her explanations.

-Are you sure? This is not a place for kids, and definitely not for games, they said, a little condescending.

Amity sighed and spoke for the first time, annoyed.

-Yes, we’re sure.

-Why would you want to go there?

-None of your business.

Amity was sharp, but it somehow seemed to work.

-Look kids, I’ll show you, but none of what happens down there will be my fault, okay?

-Perfect.

A little awkwardly, the person came back from the dead end and started walking, not even turning back to check if Amity and Luz were following.

They walked for a while, and it seemed like they were avoiding crowded streets. The person that was leading them seemed to know every alley and intersection by heart, and Luz and Amity quickly got lost, unable to find their way back even if they wanted to.

At some point, randomly in the middle of a street, their guide stopped. Luz and Amity approached, understanding that they were about to give indications.

-You see the alley on the left over there? It’s a dead end. In front of the back wall there’s a manhole cover; open it and get down the ladder. I’m warning you, it’s pretty deep, so don’t fall.

Instantly after finishing the explanation, the person turned around and left towards where they had come from.

-I hope they told us the truth, Luz said after they left, shivering.

It was scary to enter a dark alley like that, in the middle of the night, when there was no one walking in the street apart from them. But they had to do it. Gathering all of her courage, Luz grabbed Amity’s hand and they slowly started walking towards the alley.

It was so narrow that the light was hardly entering the passage, and Luz almost stumbled on a plastic bag she hadn’t seen. When they reached the end, they found the manhole cover and quickly opened it. The person they had followed hadn’t lied; this was an entrance to the underground. The students could see the first bar of a ladder, and the stuffy smell of bare rocks convinced them that it wasn’t leading to the sewers.

-Argh, I can’t see a thing, Luz complained as she bent forward to look into the hole. I guess we have no choice.

Slowly, she sinked one of her legs into the hole, trying to reach for a bar of the ladder that she couldn’t see. When her feet finally landed, she gently shifted her balance to check if it was solid enough to support her. Noticing that she didn’t fall down, Luz assumed that it was safe, and she put her second leg in the vent. Before starting to climb down, she reassured Amity.

-The ladder is safe, be careful and try to not step on my hands.

She heard the witch giggle. It was a laugh of stress, but still a laugh, and they needed it.

Going down took them almost twenty minutes. Luz feared that her arms would not be able to hold until she reached the bottom, and she had to pause several times to recover.

When she finally felt ground under her feet, Luz carefully walked away from the ladder to make room for Amity. The witch had climbed down without complaining, and overall she had been very silent throughout the night.

They had arrived in what seemed to be a tunnel, and a pallid light was coming from their right, along with muffled voices. Carefully, the students got closer to the noises. Luz peaked in the room at the end of the tunnel, making a movement with her hand to tell Amity to stay behind.

There were two elders talking around a fire, with various damaged furniture and bags of food around them. A little further, Luz distinguished a shabby mattress on the floor. It seemed like they had stumbled upon a sort of house, even though it had no door, no walls, and no privacy.

-Hey you, what are you doing? We don’t like people from the surface around here, get lost!

Luz quickly backed into the tunnel when she realized that she had been spotted. They ran a little to get away from the aggressive elders, but they quickly had to stop because they couldn’t see where they were stepping. Luckily, knowing that they were going underground, Luz had brought a glass jar and her usual glyph notebook. Now that she was able to make her light spells last for a while, she could use them as lanterns. She put two orbs in the jar, closed it, and they resumed their walk.

-What are we looking for exactly? Amity asked.

-I don’t really know, Luz answered, honest. I guess somewhere to sleep a little. We’ll look for food tomorrow.

-I brought a few fruits for later if you want.

The tunnel was very slightly curving to the left, and the couple passed a lot of intersections, even though they decided to keep going forward in order to not get lost. At each of them, weird names were written on the walls, and it was hard to tell their true meaning. The place looked like a giant maze, and even though the inhabitants were unwelcoming, Luz realized that they had much more chances to starve down here than getting killed by other witches.

A couple of times, they heard voices or saw lights in side-tunnels, but they made sure to avoid them, remembering their last experience. After a while, the couple stumbled across a stove. Even though no one really knew why these tunnels had been built, Luz thought that the room they were in looked like a mining chamber, from which a body of ore had been removed.

Not really interested in continuing her boring reflections, Luz realized that it may be a good place to pass the night. Its biggest advantage was also its biggest flaw; it only had one entrance. Which meant it only had one exit.

-Do you think we should sleep here? Luz asked her girlfriend. I ‘m not sure we can find anything better.

Not even answering, Amity removed her bag from her shoulders and sat down as she sighed.

-I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to sleep at the same time though. I’ll stay awake for now, and I’ll wake you up when I need to sleep.

The witch grumbled an approbation as she grabbed a plaid in her bag. Rolling it over her, she then placed her bag under her head as a pillow and lied down.

Luz sat against a wall, facing the entrance. She heard Amity’s breathing slow down as the witch fell asleep, and soon it was the only sound audible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the end is a little messy, I was almost falling asleep as I was writing ^^' NaNoWriMo is definitely time-consuming and hard to do when you have Uni projects to work on as well.  
> If I'm being honest though, it's hard for me to not turn this into a Метро 2033 AU x)


	26. Chapter 26

Voices woke up Luz. She could hear clear footsteps coming from afar, and unfortunately, getting louder. Quickly, the human opened the jar next to her and squashed the light orbs. Now in the dark, she could see a faint glow coming from the tunnel.

Luz had fallen asleep even though she was supposed to guard the room. She cursed at herself when she realized that, regretting her lack of energy. Luckily, Amity didn’t seem awake yet, so she probably hadn’t noticed.

Unable to clearly hear what the people in the tunnel were talking about, Luz prayed for them to turn into another tunnel before reaching their stove. Sadly, she soon understood that they would have to face whoever was coming. That was, if they were seen.

Luz tensed up and stopped breathing when they were about to pass in front of the room her and Amity were in. From the sound of the voices, she had guessed that there were three persons, probably two men and a woman, but it was hard to tell with the weird acoustics of the tunnel. Surprisingly, because of the sound amplification they caused, Luz almost suffocated, out of breath before the intruders even passed in front of their room.

Luckily, only one of them was holding a lantern, and they were walking in front of the group. The first two didn’t look into the stove and the last one quickly glanced inside, but the light was already too far for them to distinguish anything. The sound of their voices seemed incredibly loud after the deep silence that had surrounded the students, and sadly it woke Amity up.

Luz heard her girlfriend gasp as she jumped from where she was sleeping, afraid because of the voices and the obscurity. The human tried to grab her hand to reassure her, but she froze when she realized that it was too late.

-Did you hear that?

-You think it was a rat?

-No, rats don’t make breathing sounds like this.

The footsteps coming from the tunnel indicated that the intruders had turned around, coming back towards the stove. Both Luz and Amity were frozen, panicking and also having no idea what to do.

-Oh my, what do we have her, the woman said as the lantern lightened the room, momentarily blinding Luz.

-I told you it was  _ rats _ .

-Come on, don’t be rude, you don’t even know them. What are you doing here kids?

Amity and Luz glanced at each-other, too afraid to answer. It was their first proper encounter with someone from the underground, and all the stories they had heard had made them extremely anxious about people living here. Yet, there seemed to be no aggressiveness in the woman’s voice.

-We’re hiding here for a while, Luz answered carefully.

Even though they apparently weren’t in direct danger, Luz thought that it would be best to not give too much information. The three persons stared at them for a couple of seconds, until the woman resumed talking.

-Well I guess it’s none of my business. But be careful kids, there are people down here you don’t wanna meet.

Apparently, not everyone in the underground was mean and dangerous. As the three outsiders turned back and started to leave, Luz quickly realized that it may be their only chance to ask for help.

-Wait! she said before they were too far.

Luz dashed into the tunnel to catch the group back.

-How do we know where we are down here? We’re kind of uh… lost.

The woman laughed, seemingly amused by the human’s panic.

-It’s actually very simple, but I guess It’s better if I explain. There are three types of tunnels, the ones going from West to East, the ones going from North to South, and the circular ones. At each junction, the direction of the tunnel is indicated with a letter, followed by a number to indicate the approximative position. East-West tunnels have increasing numbers if you go towards the South, and North-South tunnels increase if you go towards the East. For the circular ones, they are indicated by letters, A being the smallest circle, near the town center. The names are either people living in the tunnel’s direction, or the backward names of the city streets above.

The explanations weren’t very clear, but apparently the woman was convinced that anyone could understand in less than a minute.

-Thanks, Luz mumbled, still trying to remember everything the woman had said.

-Good luck kids, she said as they left, this time definitively.

Luz went back to the stove and sat back against the wall, silently placing two new light orbs in the glass jar. Once the footsteps and laughers of the group dissipated far away, Amity finally spoke.

-If I hadn’t experienced the horror house last week, I think I would say that this was the scariest thing that happened in my life.

The witch shivered, and Luz moved closer to comfort her. In fact, the human needed to be reassured as well, and the feeling of Amity’s shoulder against hers made a decent job.

They stayed silent for a while, enjoying each-other’s presence and the warmth of their bodies. The humid air made the place seem colder than it really was, and staying close was not a bad solution.

-Do you know how much time passed since we arrived? Amity asked.

In the underground, there was no way to tell if the sun had risen yet. Luz shook her head.

-Do you want to sleep a little? Amity then suggested. I think I rested enough, I can guard the room.

Thankful, Luz agreed and grabbed the plaid she had brought, settling down exactly like Amity had done hours ago and quickly falling asleep.

The human felt a hand on her shoulder, and a gentle shake woke her from her slumber. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, instantly remembering where she was.

-Amity?

Luz couldn’t see anything, and the silence around her felt oppressive.

-I’m right here, the witch answered.

-Why are we in the dark? Luz asked after letting out a relief sigh.

-Your light orbs faded away, and I didn’t want to wake you up for it.

-Oh. Thanks.

Luz groped for her notebook and drew a light glyph on it, hoping that she didn’t mess up in the dark. Even though the orb wasn’t incredibly luminous, the two students were a little dazzled, taking a few seconds to get accustomed.

-How long was I asleep?

-I don’t know. A few hours?

-Eh, good enough, Luz said as she shrugged.

-I thought that maybe you would want to eat something.

-Sure! I have some human biscuits if you want.

-Let’s just share, Amity stated.

She took a couple of orange apples out of her bag and gave one to Luz. The human, too hungry to think about what she was eating, quickly took a bite. Curiously, it tasted like peaches.

After the two girls finished their snack, they started talking about what they should do next.

-What’s the plan? Amity asked.

-I thought that maybe we should go look for a place better than this one to settle down. I mean this isn’t so bad, but it’s too frequented.

-Really? We’re going to starve if we don’t get food quickly Luz. I think we should head out towards the center to try to get supplies. Maybe there’s a market or something.

-Are you crazy? You saw how the people here react when they see witches from the surface. It’s not a good idea to simply walk around in plain sight.

-Then what’s your plan, Amity fumed. Do you think dying is better than a few complicated encounters?

-What makes you think that one of these encounters won’t be fatal too? Luz answered, almost yelling.

The tension had quickly grown, and the two students were glaring at each-other.

-You know what? Fine! I’ll go alone.

Amity quickly stood up and packed her stuff. Without even turning back, she left the stove.

-Amity, wait! Luz shouted when she realized what had just happened. We shouldn’t separate!

Luz listened to her girlfriend’s footsteps anxiously, waiting for them to stop or indicate that she was turning back at any moment. But Amity kept walking, and soon her footsteps disappeared in the distance.

-What have I done?

Luz buried her head in her hands and started crying. She had never felt so alone in her life.


	27. Chapter 27

Luz had no idea how much time had passed since Amity left. Maybe a few hours, maybe an entire day. The human had spent most of it crying and cursing herself.

They had never argued like that, without teasing or ragging implicitly, and Luz knew that it was serious. The way Amity had left without even looking behind… it was etched in the human’s mind.

Even after tears had stopped flowing, Luz had kept sobbing for hours, hugging her legs. She was too afraid to leave the stove in case Amity would come back. After what felt like an eternity, she very slightly managed to cheer up.

Finally feeling better, Luz was now realizing how hungry and thirsty she was. Even though she had absolutely no will to eat, her body had reminded her that she still needed to survive, even with the emotional pain she was under. She ended up eating all the supplies she had brought, and her water bottle also emptied throughout the meal.

Luz knew that in a few hours, hunger and thirst would come back, and that this time she would have no way to sustain them. She knew that she had to go out to look for some food. But the thought that Amity could come back anytime was a burden. Luz didn’t want to miss the witch, especially not after their dispute. That was, if Amity ever came back.

Luz napped, trying to clear her mind. It was even more scarier to try to sleep alone in the room, but the hours of crying had left her incredibly tired. No one had come through the tunnel since Amity had left, meaning that it was probably less frequented than what Luz initially thought.

When she woke up from her nap, the human still felt incredibly sad, but at least she was no longer weary. Amity hadn’t come back, and Luz had to accept the fact that she probably never would. Or maybe something bad had happened to her.

A newfound energy filled Luz when the thought hit her mind. Maybe the witch needed her help! It was the motivation she needed to stop ruminating and start acting.

Before leaving, the human made sure to leave a note in case Amity came back while she was gone. It took her a few minutes to write, Luz being very careful with her choice of words and sentences to sound as neutral as possible.

_ Hi Amity, if you read this note, it’s probably because you came back to the stove while I’m away. I went looking for food and water, I’ll try to be back as soon as possible. _

Luz gathered her stuff and left the room with her improvised lantern in one hand. She made sure to read carefully the indications written on the first intersection and to note them in her notebook. Seeing the tunnels that all looked the same, she had higher chances to find back the stove with their numbers than remembering her way back.

Luz decided to follow the circular tunnel she was in. She went through a few empty rooms and halls, but she never encountered inhabitants or occupied places. Seeing that names were often written on North-South and West-East tunnels, Luz conjectured that “houses” were always in straight tunnels and that the circular ones were reserved for travelling.

On some tunnel walls, the human read inscriptions such as “go away” or “don’t come if you’re not invited”, even one “I will kill you on sight”. In a way, it was reassuring to know that avoiding these tunnels would likely be enough for Luz to avoid any undesired encounters.

In one of the empty rooms the human had crossed, a water source coming out of the wall had allowed her to drink and refill her water bottle. Even if hunger was still growing as she walked, water was no longer a problem. She saw other similar watering places further ahead, convincing Luz that water would not be a serious problem down here. On the other hand, she still hadn’t seen any food or people around.

After walking for what felt like an hour, Luz decided to try going towards the town center. In the end, it was what Amity had suggested from the beginning, and Luz cursed herself once again for not having listened to her girlfriend.

It turned out to be an efficient idea as Luz started to see more and more people as she got closer to the center. She had a hard time finding someone who was willing to help her though. Most of them weren’t mean or violent, but they were cold and didn’t want to help or even talk to the human. At some point, she finally found a young man nice enough to give her indications.

-Excuse me, do you know where I could buy food down here?

-Sure! The nearest market is right ahead then on the right, between N27 and W84. Its name should be written on the wall anyway, so it’s not hard to find, just look for “Wormhall”.

-Thank you so much, Luz said, truly thankful after finding someone who was actually willing to help her.

She walked a quarter of an hour before finding the place. She had expected to see something as crowded as Bonesborough streets, but there were only a few people wandering between the booths, and more sellers than buyers. Maybe there weren't as many people living underground as Luz thought, or maybe they just avoided contact as much as possible.

Since Luz didn’t have any way to cook her food, she only bought things that could be eaten raw, mainly fruits and processed food like bread. According to her calculations, it was enough for her and Amity to survive two days, then they would have to come back to buy more. It was less expensive than on the surface, and the human had enough money to buy food for two months, and that was without counting the money Amity had also brought.

Her bag now full of supplies and a little too heavy for her taste, Luz started heading back towards the stove they had settled in. As expected, it turned out to be way shorter to not use the path she had taken to come, and she roughly took the direction she thought would be the most efficient.

On her way back though, she met someone she didn’t expect to encounter at all.

-Luz!

The human turned her head to the right, hoping that she had stumbled upon Amity thanks to some miracle, whose voice would have been distorted by the tunnels. It turned out it wasn’t the green-haired witch she had hoped to see, but her sister, Emira.

-What are you doing here? Luz asked, startled.

-Amity disappeared and I figured she may be hiding down here in the underground. Are you with her?

Luz didn’t respond, anxious. Was Emira here to get back Amity and force her to marry Boscha?

-Don’t worry, Emira continued as if she had read Luz’s mind. I’m not here to bring her back, I understand why she’s hiding. I just want to check if she’s safe. My parents think Ed and I know where she is, and the atmosphere at home is… rather tense.

Luz was reassured by her explanations and decided to be honest with the witch. She sighed before answering.

-I was with her, yes. But we had a stupid fight and now I don’t know where she is. Maybe she returned to the place where we settled down, that’s where I was going.

-Can I come with you? Emira asked.

-Sure.

-Do you need help to navigate?

-Why, do you know the place? Luz asked, surprised.

-Let’s say it’s not my first time down here.

-Oh wow. I guess I’m fine though, someone explained to me how the tunnels worked.

Luz resumed walking with Emira behind her. They didn’t talk a lot at first, and an awkward feeling settled between the two of them. Trying to make things less embarrassing, Luz remembered a question she had been willing to ask Emira for a long time.

-I was wondering, are you and Edric the ones who did the upside-down prank?

Luz heard Emira laugh behind her.

-You still remember that?

-Yeah, everyone talked about it for a whole week, Luz answered, a smile on her face.

-Well, I can’t say we weren’t involved.

The conversation stopped here, but Luz’s question had definitely made the atmosphere less awkward.

After walking for more than half an hour, the duo finally arrived at the stove.

-Amity? Luz said with hope as they approached the entrance.

Luz lightened the room, but nothing was in it apart from the note she had left. No signs of Amity. The human lowered her head, depressed.

-Look, why don’t you stay here in case she comes back? Emira suggested. I’ll go look for her. I have no idea how long it will take, because believe me this place is huge, but I’m sure I will inevitably find her.

-Are you not afraid of the other people?

-Actually they aren’t as mean as they look. Even though they seem aggressive, I’ve never seen anyone fight or get physically harmed down here. I guess it’s all just a big lie to prevent people from the surface from coming down.

Luz didn’t answer, lost in her thoughts.

-Well uh, I guess I should go, Emira said. Stay safe.

The witch left going back towards the center of the city.

Luz took her plaid out of her bag and lied down, trying to get some sleep. Even if the world around her seemed hostile and unfriendly, finding Emira had been the happiest event she had lived since going down in the underground, and Luz hoped that it was the first of a long series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my writing is worsening with every chapter I put out, sorry if it's the case


	28. Chapter 28

When she woke up, Luz had once again no idea how long she had slept. Leaving underground with no sunlight was not something she would want to try again unless it was necessary.

But she had yet to experience the worst part of being alone here; boredom. Being awake in a room entirely empty, with nothing to spend time… It was almost a torture.

Back when she had packed up her stuff, Luz hadn’t planned anything to entertain herself, and she was realizing only now that it was a mistake. Now that she wasn’t tired or sad enough to cry, minutes seemed like hours.

At first, the human had tried to settle down and count. She didn’t know what she was counting exactly, but at least it kept her mind busy. After reaching two thousand, she forgot to continue and got lost in her own thoughts. Even though it made the time pass faster, Luz didn’t like what she was thinking about. She was thinking about Amity, their argument, how they separated, and how maybe the witch would never forgive her.

Luz wasn’t sad enough to sob like after Amity had left her, but she realized that her eyes had filled up with tears as the knot in her stomach tightened. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, the human tried to think about something else, all the happy moments she had shared with Amity, but her mind inevitably kept shifting back to negative thoughts.

Luz’s throat felt incredibly dry, so she grabbed her water bottle and drank half of it. Refilling it was something she would need to take care of before her next nap.

‘Crap, I forgot to ask Emira what day it was,’ Luz thought all of a sudden.

She had strictly no idea about how much time had passed since her and Amity had come down here. Two days? Four days? It was impossible to tell.

Luz found another activity soon, that allowed her to keep her mind busy without thinking too much about Amity; drawing. She had limited paper and most of it was supposed to be used for glyphs, but she allowed herself to spend a couple of sheets. She hadn’t looked at every booth at Wormhall anyway, and it was plausible at least one of them had a notebook or at least paper sheets for sale.

Luz had no precise idea about what she wanted to draw, so she simply waited for random thoughts to pop up in her mind. King, various animals and plants from the Boiling Isles, Azura, animals from earth, she made sure to fill every blank spot of her sheets with something.

As she drew, Luz unconsciously started eating what she had bought at the market. It was probably a bad move since she wasn’t keeping track of what she swallowed, but at least it helped her focus and also participated in keeping her mind busy.

Of course, eating bread made Luz thirsty, and she ended up emptying her water bottle because of it. When she finally filled the last available space on her last sheet, Luz realized how much she had eaten, cursing herself for not being more careful.

‘Well I can always go back and buy more,’ she thought, trying to reassure herself. ‘Although it will become a problem if I have to stay for more than a month.’

Luz stared at her empty bottle. It was the excuse she needed to leave the stove and walk a bit. Not that she needed an excuse to do anything, but going out for no valid reason would have made her feel bad since she was supposed to wait for Amity here. She quickly wrote a new note in case Amity came back while she was gone.

_ Hi Amity! I left to get water, I should be back soon. _

Luz didn’t want to apologize or beg on the note as she feared it would possibly drive Amity back. She hoped that in case the witch came back, she would wait for Luz in order for them to have a face-to-face talk. Also, making the notes short allowed the human to save paper, which was not a bad idea.

Luz left the stove and took the circular tunnel, this time towards the other direction. She would probably stumble upon a source soon enough anyway, and she wanted to explore the surroundings at least a little. On this side, there was a long portion with no room, and the human walked at least an hour before reaching the first one. Since it had no watering place, she continued further, passing through another couple of rooms before finally being able to refill her bottle.

The trip was exhausting, not because of a messy or sloppy ground, but because Luz had to carry all of her stuff on her back. It was too risky to leave anything in the stove, especially food, since someone could steal everything while Luz was away. In addition, keeping the food in her bag was at least partially preserving it from the consequent humidity that filled the tunnels.

Luz made sure to not come back too fast, enjoying her walk as much as possible, knowing that she wouldn’t leave the stove until at least five or six hours. The closer water source was definitely on the other side, so Luz made sure to look everywhere for important indications since she would probably never come back in this part of the tunnel. But apart from inhabitant names and boring tunnel numbers, she didn’t find any useful inscriptions.

Luz once again found the stove empty when she came back, with no signs of Amity. Saddened, the human prepared her plaid and laid down, hoping to sleep a little after her exhausting trip. She was probably sleeping more than usual, but she had nothing better to do. Luz’s last thought before she fell asleep was about the arranged marriage. Quite ironically, she hadn’t thought about it in a while, even though it was the main reason her and Amity were down here.

Something shook Luz’s shoulder, waking her up. It made the human panic, fearing that a stranger had entered the stove, so she sat up as fast as possible and felt her head harshly hit against something in the process.

-Ahhhh.

Luz didn’t feel pain thanks to the proximity of her slumber, but the thing –person?– she had smittened with her head sure seemed to suffer.

When Luz’s vision unblurred, she saw Amity, the real Amity, lying on the floor and rubbing her left temple.

-I’m so sorry, Luz yelled as she dashed towards the witch. I uhhh, what can I do?

Amity got back up, still massaging her temple.

-It’s okay.

The two students stared at each-other as an awkward silence settled. Luz didn’t know what to say. Was she supposed to apologize? Or act like nothing happened? Panicking, Luz said the first thing that went through her mind.

-I uhhh, do you have any way to reach Emira? Luz asked. She was looking for you and she probably won’t stop until she knows you’re safe.

-I was with her, she’s the one who brought me back here.

-Is she around?

-I think she left.

Another silence, another uneasiness feeling. Luz sighed.

-I’m sorry, for getting mad at you. I shouldn’t have.

Amity didn’t answer but she kept staring at Luz. It was hard to tell the expression on her face because of the penumbra, but maybe it was better that way.

-I know that I said some mean stuff, but I was stressed and tired, and I’m truly sorry about it, Luz continued when she realized Amity wouldn’t answer. I’ll understand if you don’t want to stay with me anymore.

Luz heard the witch sigh.

-You shouldn’t be sorry, it’s my fault as much as yours.

-Does that mean you’re okay with coming back here? Or do you want us to move somewhere else? I promise I’ll never again get angry over that.

-I guess we can stay here, Amity stated.

As soon as she said it, Luz hugged her firmly, overwhelmed with happiness. She soon realized that the hug was maybe out of place, so she stepped back.

-Sorry, I didn’t think this through.

-Don’t worry, it’s fine, Amity said understandingly.

-Aren’t you still mad at me?

Amity sighed once again, apparently not sure what to respond.

-Do you want the full story?

Luz nodded.

-Well, after I left you, I didn’t really think about where I was going. I regretted getting angry at you and leaving the stove, but my stubbornness was uhhh… Well, you know. And I was already lost anyway.

-Lost? But the woman we met explained how to navigate through here!

-I was not as close as you when she did, Amity explained. I roughly understood half of what she had said, and since I didn’t think we would separate I didn’t want to ask you to re-explain everything to me. Anyway, after that I wandered around. I stumbled across a market at some point, and since I had no idea where I was, I decided to stay around in case you would ever come there. After what felt like a couple of days, Emira came and even though I tried to hide from her, she spotted me. I thought that she wanted to bring me back to the mansion to make me marry, but she told me she just wanted to check if I was safe. I asked her if she had seen you and if you were okay, and she told me that you were still at the stove and that you were waiting for me.

Amity paused her explanations.

-Do you have water? My bottle is empty.

-S-sure, yeah, Luz stammered as she gave the witch her bottle.

Amity took a few sips from it, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and gave back the bottle to Luz.

-Without even asking for my opinion, Emira started to lead me to the stove. I’m not exactly sure why, but she kept talking about you and how much you regretted our fight. I guess she was trying to get us back together.

-Wow, Luz said. I didn’t think she would do that.

-Maybe it was better this way, I was convinced that you were still mad at me and that you would drive me out of the room if I ever came back.

-So, we’re okay? Luz asked with hope all over her face. I mean, can we forget everything and start again?

Amity chuckled.

-You know we didn’t break up, right?

-I uh, I wasn’t sure to be honest, Luz answered.

Amity removed her bag from her shoulders and sat down next to the human as a way to show her that she wasn’t planning to leave.

-By the way, do you know what day it is? I forgot to ask Emira.

-Yeah, Amity answered. It’s Sunday. The marriage was supposed to happen yesterday.

Luz rejoiced. Even though Amity’s parents had probably not given up, knowing that the wedding initial date was behind them and that Amity was still not married was very uplifting.

Slowly, Luz put her head on Amity’s shoulder and closed her eyes. If she forgot about their surroundings, the human felt like she was finally able to live her relationship with the witch fully.


	29. Chapter 29

Being stuck in a room underground was definitely better with someone else to talk to. It was something Luz had learned during the past week. Ever since Amity had come back, even though they still didn’t have anything to do besides eating and drinking, the time passed a lot faster. The two students would talk for hours, and about anything. Funny anecdotes from the past, secrets, gossip, what they liked and didn’t like, everything was a good topic as long as it kept them busy. They played some games too, like mimes or guessing what the other had in mind. It got boring after a while, but it was entertaining.

The only moments when they weren’t talking, it was because one of them was asleep. Even though Luz slept two times alone without being disturbed by any stranger, they didn’t want to risk sleeping at the same time. Emira had assured them that people living here weren’t as mean and dangerous as in the rumors, but there were shady people everywhere, even on the surface.

A few groups passed in the tunnel during the week, always stopping to satisfy their curiosity. Everyone wanted to know why two magic students from the surface were hiding in the underground. Luz wasn’t sure how fast gossip spread around, since most people didn’t look very sociable, but it was probable that a significant part of the inhabitants knew about them.

Other than that, the two students often left to either get water or buy food. Even though the trip was long, they always made sure to enjoy their time out, playing games or talking, as if they were simply hiking in nature. As Luz had conjectured when she was alone, Amity had also brought money, and together they had enough to last two months. Hopefully they wouldn’t need to stay longer.

Overall, Luz felt incredibly joyful and happy. Even if they were stuck in this dark place, even if they didn’t have a lot of things to pass time, it felt like she could finally live her relationship with Amity fully. No marriage to worry about, no school, no students staring at them. It was only Amity, Luz, and the rock walls.

‘I could live my whole life like this,’ the human even thought at some point, but she quickly realized that their living conditions would probably become a problem if they stayed for too long and that the world on the surface was more interesting anyway.

Luz had just woken up and she was eating a “breakfast” with the witch, even though it may have been the middle of the afternoon or night outside. They always slept whenever they felt tired, with no specific schedule.

-I was wondering, did you have any other childhood friends besides Willow? Luz asked, grabbing the first thought that went through her mind to start a conversation.

-Well, not much. Back in kindergarten I was very close to another witch, but he moved away with his parents and now I believe he’s at Glandus High? I never saw him again though, so maybe he’s somewhere else.

-Aw, that’s sad, didn’t you try to keep in touch?

-I was a child, I didn’t have any way to communicate with someone. Also he was from a normal family, so I couldn’t really ask my parents.

-Do you think he’ll remember you if you meet again? Do you think you could even recognize him after all this time?

-Honestly, I have no idea, Amity answered with a smile. What about you though? You never really talked about your life in the human world. Don’t you miss your friends?

-Well, I didn’t really have a lot of friends. I don’t even know if I had one.

-Really? Amity asked, full of concern. Did you get bullied? Is it why you didn’t have friends?

Luz took a couple of seconds to remember her school life before answering.

-Not that much honestly. I just…

She sighed.

-I guess I thought that I could wait and magically make friends. That they would pop up without me having to do anything. Turns out it doesn’t work that way.

-So, you didn’t have any friends?

-I had acquaintances. But no one I would call a friend I think. Maybe I was a little too eccentric for that too.

-And did you, like, feel alone because of it?

-Not really, I had anime and online communities to share stuff with.

-Anime? And what does online mean?

-Online is like when you use Penstagram, Luz explained. Any instant communication with other people that aren’t next to you to put it simply.

-Oh okay, I think I kinda get it. So what is Anime?

-Uhhh, how can I explain that? It’s stories told with drawings that move and people who voice them? Like a film but it’s drawings.

Amity looked confused.

-Look, I’ll just show you once everything is over. I’m sure Eda has something in all the junk she brought back from the human world.

Luz noticed a faint smile on Amity’s face, but she couldn’t tell if it was because of her last statement or because she had implicitly invited her to the Owl House.

-Can I hug you? Amity asked out of nowhere.

-Uhh, yeah, sure.

The witch gently embraced Luz who was still a little confused.

-I’ll make sure you always have friends in the future, Amity whispered.

Luz was about to answer that it didn’t make her feel sad to not have friends, but she realized it was unnecessary. All of this was in the past, and she had grown up a lot since then. Also, she just wanted to enjoy the hug.

-Ahem.

The two students jumped, instantly interrupting their embrace. When they looked towards the tunnel, they saw Emira’s head staring at them.

-I hope I’m not interrupting, the witch said with a sly smile as she entered the stove.

Amity was the first one to talk.

-Emira? What are you doing here?

-Well I’m obviously here to talk to you two, did you think I got lost or something? Emira answered teasingly.

Amity rolled her eyes.

-So, do you want the bad news or the good news first? Emira continued.

Luz looked at Amity, not knowing who was supposed to choose. Amity nodded as a way to tell the human that she would agree with what she picked.

-The bad news first? Luz answered carefully.

-Okay. The bad news is that I’m putting an end to your little romantic trip.

Emira paused dramatically, waiting for the students’ reaction. Luz and Amity glanced at each-other, not really understanding. Was she here to bring Amity back and force her to marry Boscha? Why did she wait a whole week then? Luz was still startled while Amity answered the first thing that came through her mind, panicking.

-It’s not a romantic trip!

-If you say so, Emira answered with a grin. Anyway, the good news is, your marriage with Boscha is officially cancelled.

Luz and Amity were staring at the witch, agape. Did they misunderstand something?

-You mean, cancelled as in it won’t happen? Mom and Dad gave up? Amity asked, thrilled.

-Yeah, basically. Do you want the short version or the long version of the story?

-The long one, Luz said after Amity could answer. I mean it’s not like we’re in a hurry or anything.

-Fine.

Emira glared at the floor, a disgusted look on her face, but she decided to sit anyway, even if it meant getting her clothes a little dirty.

-So first of all, when I left you two weeks ago, I came back to the mansion to tell mom and dad that you were okay.

-Wait, two weeks? Luz interrupted. I thought it was only one week since we left!

-They threatened me to know where you were, but I managed to keep the upper hand with Ed’s help, Emira continued, ignoring Luz. We didn’t really know what to do, but we did our best to help. Last Monday, at school, we talked to your friends, Boscha, Gus, Skara and Willow. Boscha said that she had been trying to convince her parents to meet ours to discuss the wedding again, so we helped convince Mom and Dad as well. Yesterday, they finally accepted, and Boscha’s parents came over to the mansion. She said that she was in love with someone else and didn’t want to marry Amity, and Ed and I told everyone that you weren’t planning to come back unless the marriage was cancelled. They argued for hours, but in the end they finally agreed to forget about the wedding.

A silence passed, Luz and Amity slowly realizing what Emira had just said.

-Wow, Amity said finally. Thank you so much.

-You owe us now, Emira answered with a sly smile.

A look of apprehension appeared on Amity’s face.

-Just kidding, Emira added when she noticed it. Anyway, don’t you want to get out of here?

Without answering, Luz and Amity started gathering their stuff, impatient to leave the underground, but at the same time feeling already nostalgic about it. Sure they hadn’t lived in the best conditions down here, but their bond had never felt this strong, probably because of the privacy and the time they had. It felt like they would lose this when they would get out.

They followed Emira throughout tons of narrow tunnels and halls, but Luz didn’t even try to memorize the path. They would probably never be able to come back to the stove. When they reached a ladder, Luz wasn’t sure she would be strong enough to climb all the way up with her heavy bag.

-Don’t worry, Emira said as if she had heard her concern. This one has a stop in the middle, we can rest a little there.

After probably almost an hour, they finally reached the surface. When Luz, who was first, arrived under the manhole cover and pushed it, a bright light flowed from the alley, momentarily blinding the human. She managed to finish climbing with her eyes closed, trying to make room for the witches, and she lay down on the floor, exhausted, not caring if it was dirty. She had spent two weeks in the filthy tunnels anyway, so it could hardly get worse.

After their eyes accustomed and they all drank and ate a little, the three students got up and resumed their trip back to their homes. They quickly left the town, and before Luz even realized they reached the intersection where Amity and her had met so many times.

-Well, I guess this is goodbye, Amity said awkwardly.

-Y-yeah.

-Em, what day is it?

-Thursday, she answered.

-Well uh, let’s meet back here tomorrow before school? Amity asked.

-Sure!

It felt incredibly odd to say goodbye after the students had spent two entire weeks together. But it was only temporary.

-Goodbye then, Luz said, trying to hide her sadness.

It was weird, almost out of place for her to feel sad when they had just learned that the marriage was cancelled, but she couldn’t help it.

-Goodbye!

Amity pecked her lips without warning, making Luz shiver at the unexpected sensation. If something could cheer her up, it was this. The witch looked embarrassed, probably because her sister was here, but she still smiled broadly.

After staring into each-other’s eyes for way too long, Emira grabbed her sister’s shoulder and forced her to turn away.

-Come on lovebird, I’m not spending my afternoon here.

Luz watched them move away with joy, love and happiness all mixed up in her heart. In the end, everything had worked out.


	30. Chapter 30

-Bye Eda, see you later!

Luz stepped out of the Owl House while waving towards the inside, not even sure someone was looking at her.

When she had come back from the underground a week ago, Luz had hugged King and Eda for a long moment, even though King had actively tried to escape the embrace. Eda didn’t say anything besides “Welcome back home kiddo”, but Luz could feel that the witch was more relieved than she wanted to admit. She had probably been worrying during Luz’s absence, and the human thought that it was touching, but she made sure to not talk about it to avoid triggering her ego.

Luz frolicked to the intersection, in an incredibly good mood, as she had been for the entire past week. The sunrise filling the surroundings with bright and strong colors also helped.

-Hi Amity!

-Hi Luz, her girlfriend answered with a smile.

The human walked to her, quickly pecking her lips.

-Ready for a day of classes?

-As always, Amity answered.

Luz grabbed her hand and lifted the witch from the bench where she was sitting.

-Well, let’s not arrive late then, the human suggested as they started walking towards Hexside. Do we have any classes in common this morning?

-The last one before lunch I think.

Amity casually booped Luz’s nose. It was something she had started doing during the past week, and even though the human didn’t mind, she had no idea where it had come from.

When they arrived in front of the school, they noticed Willow, Cat, Skara, Amelia and Boscha talking together. They all greeted each-other when Luz and Amity approached, and everyone seemed in a good mood.

-Where is Gus? Luz asked, looking at Willow since she knew him best.

-He’s filming a reportage with his dad, I think he’s coming back after lunch.

-Nice! Is he going to be on television?

-I don’t know, ask him when he comes back, Willow answered. He just asked me to take notes for him, I don’t really have more information.

Luz then looked at Amity, and she noticed that the witch was looking far ahead, probably daydreaming. Not wanting to miss the occasion, the human hugged her from the side.

-W-what are you doing? she stuttered.

Amity’s face was flushed, and a few people laughed when they noticed it, of course not in a mean way. Luz looked in her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

-Remember, I can do that without warning.

-Arghhh, Amity grumbled, accepting her fate without even trying to escape the embrace.

Luz enjoyed the hug and the embarrassed face of her girlfriend for a couple of seconds, but suddenly Amity wriggled to turn and face Luz, she took the human’s face between her hands and she deeply, passionately kissed her. Luz widened her eyes out of surprise, but made sure to enjoy the kiss.

When Amity pulled out, she was even more flushed than during the hug. Luz grinned, realizing that she had probably tried to get revenge for the hug, but she had visibly not anticipated her own embarrassment.

-Do you enjoy blushing this much? Luz teased her.

-Shut up, Amity answered, looking anxiously at their astonished friends.

-You know you love it, Luz added before quickly pecking the witch’s lips.

She probably couldn’t get any redder.

It was when the bell screamed. Quickly forgetting what had happened, everyone hurried inside to go to their respective classes.

-See you later, Luz said to Amity as they were about to separate.

-Yeah, see you!

‘Things really can’t get better,’ Luz thought as she entered her class, a broad smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow.  
> First of all, thank you, the readers, for the continuous support in the comments and in private, and also for reading this whole crazy fic. I know there's not a lot of things happening in this epilogue, but I wanted it to be light and uplifting, so I hope I managed to do that.
> 
> It's the first time I actually manage to finish NaNoWriMo, despite my failed attempts these last two years. I guess Lumity really motivates me x)  
> I'm really glad I wrote these 50k words, especially since writing in english is still a slow process for me. I have to say though, the last week was a little hard, not because of my lack of motivation but because it was hard to focus, and everything kept distracting me. I don't know if I'll ever do NaNoWriMo again (I'd need to find something that really motivates me, like Lumity this year), but it's an experience I definitely don't regret.
> 
> Anyway, thanks again for reading, I wish you a good day/evening/night~


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